Shadowchasers: Journey to the Future
by MichaelDJ54
Summary: In the Land of the Rising Sun, the Tokyo Shadowchasers get their hands full when an unexpected visitor lands in their lap. But this strange person may very well be the key to saving the world.
1. A Single Step

Hello, and Welcome to the brand new Shadowchaser story everyone! However, this one isnn't by my lonesome, oh no! I have two other co-authors writing the whole thing, Metal Overlord 2.0, Author of Dance Macabre, and Lux-Nero, Author of Risen Nemesis! So I hope you lot enjoy this little trek into the Tokyo Shadowchasers as much as we do writing this! But first, a few creative liberties.

We do not own the Shadowchasers Franchise, that belongs to CyberCommander for coming up with the idea and allowing others to write for it. A few of the main Antagonists can be seen from other Fandoms, and as a result, we do not own them either. We do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, or anything having to do with Yugioh. Just our characters, and any creative cards we can come up with.

So let's get this party started!

…

"Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you..." Several candles light up in the darkened room, an almost countless number of candles that create a dull light that shows the outlines of two figures standing in a clearing of the candles. 

"... Aren't births so wonderful? Whether it be the birth of a new life, the birth of a new relationship, or even the birth of the end." 

"Wouldn't you agree?"

As one of the figures held his hand up, a dull and scratchy music plays in the background - The very same tune that the figure was singing nary a moment ago.

The other figure seemed to consider this in silence, the music being accompanied by the steady snap-snap-snap of a large metal fan opening and closing at regular intervals.

"As always your taste in western culture eludes me, are the preparations in place? The time draws near for the opening act, all the actors must be ready to play their part."

The voice was a sort of greasy purr, it brought to mind knives sliding into the flesh of an unsuspecting victim, of a bird's song cut short as it is strangled by a serpent.

The first figure only chuckled as he turned on his heels and lifted his arms up into the air. "But of course! Preparations are almost complete my good sir! There is but one thing left to do!"

With a snap of his fingers, a small cloud of smoke appeared in front of the first shadowed figure, his broad face smiling as the smoke began to trail away revealing a large rolling table. Atop of the table was a fancily created cake that seemed to have several snake-like creatures embedded on it with frosting.

The horned figure reached to the side and lifted up another tube of frosting and began to apply it to the cake - All the while singing to the scratchy tune once more. "Happy birthday, happy birthday... Happy birthday to..."

As he sang, the figure began to finish the name he was writing on the cake, with the music the back ground scratching a few times.

The second figure regarded the name clicking the fan open and raising to to his face. "Hmm, an interesting choice, once bound by honor, now cursed with freedom, let the titans of earth and steel clash in the land of the rising sun."

A sudden wind whipped through the chamber and as the candles flickered the shadows both figures cast seemed to warp and distort into horrid inhuman shapes.

…

"_If you love me let me go  
>Back to that bar in Tokyo.<br>Where the demons from my past  
>Leave me in peace…"<em>

The Bonedo bar in Tokyo, Japan was alive with activity, which was quite a surprise, considering how hidden the bar was from the public. People laughed and cheered, toasting as they lifted their glass and took shots. The whole place was a mixture of aware and shadows, and even mundane (but the less they knew the better). It was a rather peaceful scene, where Harpies laughed and drank happily with other mundane, their cheeks flushed as they drunkenly sang along with the singer.

Said singer looked like he had seen better days for sure. His complexion was a depressing pale color, and it looked like he hadn't eaten in quite a while, as evidenced by the thin stomach he was sporting. His clothing was dirty and disheveled, torn in some parts. However, for some odd reason, his guitar was almost mint condition red Les Paul that he held in front of him, strumming expertly. His long black hair slicked back behind him, oddly straight and clean compared to the rest of him.

He was also a Shadowkind, but unlike his fellow brethren in the bar, he looked more human than them. In fact, the only difference between him and the common mundane were the fact his eyes were blood red, his ears were pointed and his teeth had fangs. Other than that, he seemed completely normal.

"_I'll be animating every night.  
>The grass'll be greener on the other side.<br>And the vampires and the wolves won't sink their teeth…  
>I'm sick of dancing with the beasts."<em>

The music continued as a much larger man sat at the bar, looking down at the glass in his hand and groaning a little bit to himself. The song was giving him a headache. That or it was the sake. But he liked to think it was the song. Sake never hurt him this much before. To an aware, he was a rather intimidating creature. A tall, muscular wall of a man, with a bulls head instead of a human one. His thick fingers ran through his black hair, trying to sooth the pain that throbbed away at his noggin.

He was getting tired of the scrawny little bastard with the voice and that annoying instrument. He was getting ready to do something about it. Looking over his shoulder, he got a better look at the singer than he did when he first walked in. Almost entirely black clothing? Pointed ears? Noticeable fangs? Pale skin?

There was no way this was a coincidence. He was a member of the House of the Creeping Night! As a member of the Raging Mountain house, he would bring great honor by bringing them his head!

"Demon!" Shouted the Gyuki, sweeping his arm across the bar in front of him and clearing it off completely. "You DARE show your face amongst a member of the Raging Mountain!"

The Guitarist stopped to stare at him. The entire house seemed to pause and stare at the giant bull headed creature who was now snorting angrily. The Guitarist tilted his head.

"Do I know you?"

"No, but I DO know YOU! You're that scum from the House of Creeping Night, and your mere PRESCENCE here shows me great dishonor!"

"…" The guitarist blinked. "I think you've had a little bit too much-HOLY CRAP!" he dove out of the way as a chair struck the wall directly behind him, where he had been mere moments ago.

"Your head will adorn the main hall, you wretched demon! HAVE AT YOU!" he grabbed a table and lifted it above his head, roaring angrily. The Guitarist was too busy trying to get the hell out of the way while the Gyuki threw furniture at him, shouting that "his blood shall paint the walls." Then again, anyone would likely run from something like that.

The patrons of the bar knew better than to get in the way of a raging earth demon, so the moment the opportunity arose, they kindly got the hell out of there. The Gyuki was now looking under the overturned furtiniture, slurring that he demanded he come out and face his defeat.

"Look, I don't know who you are, or who you think I am, but there's no reason to cut my head off over it!"

Locating the source of the noise, the Gyuki reached over and pulled up the table where the Guitarist was hiding under. Gulping heavily, he spoke one more time.

"Okay, look, how about this?" he asked, "You can do what you want to me…but don't hurt my guitar. She's done nothing wrong."

"Sacrificing your life over that of an object? How foolish. I'll be sure to feed you your own-"

"Hey! Ugly! Back away from the starving artist!"

Both the gyuki and the musician turned around to who called him ugly.

Standing there, in the doorway of the bar, stood a girl. She was at least as tall as the demon with the guitar, with long black hair with blonde streaks through it. She had quite a bit of muscle going on even under her clothes. She had a hardened look in her eyes as she stared down the Gyuki.

"I suggest you drop him." She spoke. "NOW."

"And what if I don't?" he asked. There was a slight slur in his voice. "What are YOU gonna do about it?"

"I will come over there, rip your jaw off, and BEAT YOU WITH IT."

The Gyuuki smirked a little bit, dropping the man to the ground and with a stumble, approached her. "Ya know…" he hiccupped. "Normally, I'd tear someone in half when they even TRIED talking to me." He stood in front of her, his form leaning to the side a little bit, eyes unfocused as one eye blinked, followed by the other. "but…ya know what…I'm in a…I'm in a good mood. I'll even give you a chance."

Kneeling down in front of the obviously fuming woman, clenching and unclenching her fist as she attempted to remain as calm as she could. "I'll…I'll even give you the first blow!" Turning his head to expose his cheek, he pointed at it, a cheeky smirk crossing his face. "Whatcha say? Can't say I'm…I'm not a nice guy. First punch before-"

WHAM!

Her temper was at its limit, and it showed when she lifted her fist and swung with all her might, not only colliding with the Gyuuki's cheek, but sent him _flying_ across the bar, slamming into the wall, despite being twice her size.

As the bull demon groaned, rubbing his head as an even WORSE headache set in, the girl turned her attention to the guitarist. She motioned with her head. "Get out of here. It's gonna get really brutal in here."

"No need to tell me twice." He murmured to himself, grabbed his Guitar and high tailed it out of the bar. "Thank you!"

"Rotten…little…bitch..." grumbled the demon as he lifted himself up. He pushed his jaw back into its socket with his palm, grumbling as he opened and closed it, to make sure it worked properly. "No one strikes the great Gyuki and gets away with it with their lives!"

"Gyuki, huh?" Asked the girl, crossing her arms. "Not the most original name, but I'm not one to judge." She shrugged. "My friends are actually worse. But I'm not here to make pleasantries." She prepared herself, crouching down into position. "I'm here to take you in."

A scoff, the bull demon crossed his arms. He seemed to be more level headed since the blow to the head. "Turn me in? What are you, a…." A small pause, his eyes widened a little bit. "Oh shit, you're a Shadowchaser."

"Took ya long enough." She smirked. "I, Aurum of the Tokyo Shadowchasers are putting you under arrest for the endangerment of Mundane and Shadows alike! We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way." She smirked, "And I don't think you wanna lose anymore teeth."

Gyuki snarled a little bit, his eyes going from a dim grey to a little red. "I refuse to lose to the likes of you!" He slammed his fist on the ground, cracking the very floor under him. "I am Gyuki, proud warrior of the House of Raging Mountain, and I refuse to lose a human!" With another bellow, he charged at Aurum.

"They always want to do it the hard way," Aurum sighed a little. "Luckily, I like the Hard way!"

As he threw his fist down, Aurum quickly leapt off to the side, watching as the Gyuki's fist was buried in the floor. Stuck, he attempted to pull away, but was too late and Aurum threw another punch at his cheek, knocking him back and causing him to grunt. Aurum didn't let up either. Blow after blow was sent to the Gyuki's face, until the force of one attack was enough to free him from the floor and on his back.

Leaping back to his feet, he lifted both hands and swung them down on the unsuspecting Aurum. This time the attack connected, knocking her to the ground with a loud grunt. The Shadowchaser was just as fast however. Before leaping to her feet, she swept a leg out, catching the demons feet and knocking it on his back with another thunderous crash, grunting a little as the air was knocked from his lungs.

Leaping back to her feet, she lifted up a leg and prepared to bring the heel down on his chest. Eyes widening, everything seemed to slow down.

_This bitch is a lot tougher than I thought a human was! _He thought in horror. _If I lose, The house will never let me forget it! MY honor will be non-existent! There's only one shot at me getting out of here in a fair chance…_

"I challenge you to a duel!"

She stopped mid-swing, reassuming her stance and prepared herself for anything he may try, sneaky or otherwise. "A proud member of the Raging Mountain House, begging for a duel?" A little chuckle. "And here I thought you were stupid."

"Yeah, well…" he stood up, rubbing his now sore and swelling cheek, "I'd rather not have my ribs cracked open…" his voice had a mild slur, but that was no longer from the fact he was drunk, it was from the fact his jaw was likely cracked. "So I challenge you to a duel! And as a Shadowchaser and your little treaty, you have to duel!"

"Mm." Aurum shrugged a little bit. "I was fully expecting to leave here with a cracked arm at the very least…" She reached behind her back, pulling out a Duel Disk, fitting it over her wrist. "but I suppose a duel is just as fun, after all."

Gyuki smirked a little bit as he pulled out a Duel disk from his satchel that hung off his hip. Fitting the extra sized contraption over his wrist, both duelists threw their hand forward.

"Let's duel!"

**(Aurum: 8000) - - - - - - - (Gyuki: 8000)**

"Well, ladies first and all that," Aurum said, drawing her opening hand and looked at what her hand contained. A little smirk. "I summon Gogogo Golem in attack mode!"

The ground in front of her burst open as a massive figure rose from the ground. It was a massive egg shaped rocklike creature, with thick arms and legs, a barrel shaped body and several turret holes that peppered its body. A single red eye stared out, flanked by 2 smaller gun barrels. (1800/1500)

"To end my turn, I'll set these two cards facedown." Two facedown cards appeared behind the massive golem creature. "And I end my turn."

"I'm not scared by you or your big rocks," Gyuki drew his card, "Because I have everything I need to beat you right here! First, I summon Iron Chain Repairman!"

An overweight demon appeared in a portal of light before him. His eyes were bright orange and he wore a pair of overalls, held up by an iron chain. In his right hand, he effortlessly lifted a massive hammer. (1600/1200)

"Now I activate the spell card, Foolish Burial!" He showed her the spell card, as he pulled a card that stuck out from his deck. "With this, one monster in my deck is sent to the graveyard in an early retirement!" he discarded the card, and swung his hand forward, "But I'm far from done! I'll use Iron Chain Repairman's effect to revive one Iron Chain monster from my graveyard to the field!"

Iron Chain Repairman slammed on the ground with his massive hammer, cracking the foundation. From it appeared a massive iron chain, but moving and sentient with a snake's face on the end of it. (800/800)

"Then I activate Iron Chain Snakes effect!" Gyuki announced. "I can equip him onto one of the opposing monsters, and as a result, it loses 800 Attack and Defense!"

Hissing loudly, the snake slithered over to the massive golem. It seemingly doubled in length and wrapped itself around the battle chested monster, forcing it's arms to its sides and preventing it from moving. (1800/1500) - (1000/700)

"Lucky for you, I can't attack on the turn I use Iron Chain Repairman's effect." He said, taking a few more cards from his hand and slipping them into his duel disk. "But that's not to say I can't play smartly. I activate both the continuous Spell cards, Poison Chain and Paralyzing Chain, followed by one card facedown."

The spells appeared on his side of the field, as did a facedown card.

"I end my turn, which allows me to use Poison Chain's effect. Sending one card from the top of your deck to the graveyard for each Iron Chain monster on my side of the field…"

Aurum scowled and discarded the said card, seeing it was her copy of Mirror Force. With a scream, a jolt of electricity struck her body.

"And Paralyzing Chain deals you 300 Damage whenever you lose cards from your deck!" A bellowing laugh. "So not only do you have your deck to worry about, but your Life Points as well!"

"Three hundred damage isn't that bad in the long run," Aurum grunted and grabbed the top card of her deck, drawing it and looking at it. With a smirk, she continued, "Especially when I can deal a lot more this turn!"

She held up a card, Fossil Tusker for him to see. Then, to his confusion, she discarded it! "I discard Fossil Tusker to summon Power Giant in Attack mode!"

In a bright flurry of lights appeared a rather pretty and dangerous looking monster. It looked like a mecha of the Gundam Series, but he was adorned with gems and crystals of various sizes and colors. (2200/0)

"Power Giant's special effect reduces his level by the Level of the monster used to summon him!" indeed, a Holographic box beside him appeared. The six that appeared in it clicked down to 2.

"I'm not done either. I remove Fossil Tusker from play to summon Gigtanes in attack mode!" She pocketed the monster from her deck, from the ground again burst a monster. Its skin was crimson red, its armor was leather and it carried a tree trunk in his hand. (1900/1200)

Gigantes growled at the Gyuki while Power Giant merely stared. Gyuki didn't seem worried.

"Power Giant, attack Iron Chain Repairman!" Power Giant rushed forward, pulling his fist back for a massive punch to the overweight warrior…

…Before Gyuki shouted, "I activate Soul Anchor!"

A glowing anchor and chain suddenly wrapped rapidly around the Iron Chain Repairman's midsection. The attack struck, but the Iron Chain Repairman cackled as he merely slid back. He wasn't destroyed.

"Why does every Iron Chain deck seem to have that card?" She asked, rubbing her head with an annoyed sigh. "Well, I don't care if your monster survives the attack, he still took damage! Gigantes, your turn!"

Before the Iron Chain Repairman had a chance to return to his original spot, he was struck in the head by the massive tree the Rock Spirit carried as a club. Instead of laughing, the fat warrior fell on his stomach and groaned, a comical mark growing where the attack struck him.

**(Aurum: 7700) - - - - - - - (Gyuki: 7100)**

She turned the Gogogo Golem card on its side, and the massive rock knelt down in front of her. "I switch Gogogo Golem to defense mode, and end my turn."

"My turn then!" He drew a card, playing it immediately. "I summon Iron Chain Golem in attack mode!"

A bulky looking creature appeared in front of Gyuki. It looked like if Frankenstein's monster was creature with more iron chains in mind, standing up to the ceiling of the otherwise roomy building. (1000/800)

"Iron Chain Golem gains 300 attack for every card on the field with Chain in their name." He held up his other hand, all five fingers sticking out. "And I could five."

The three Iron Chain monsters began to glow, as did the two continuous spells. The creature released a low groan as power began to flood its body. (1000/800) - (2500/800)

"Iron Chain Repairman, attack her Gogogo Golem!" The Repairman lifted his hammer and swung down. A shockwave rumbled out, striking the Golem, but it didn't waiver. "Hm?"

"For someone who was from House dedicated solely to Earth, you sure don't know a lot, do you?" Aurum asked. "Gogogo Golem can't be destroyed once per turn in battle while he's in defense mode."

"Then I'll finish it off!" he shouted in anger. "Golem, finish it off!"

The Golem creature lifted up its arms, and the Iron Chains extended out like whips. It snapped out and struck the Gogogo Golem, this time destroying it.

"Because your monster was destroyed while equipped with Iron Chain Snake, you lose Life Points equal to its level!" he laughed, pointing at Aurum. "And that's 4 cards, coupled with the damage done to Paralyzing Chain!"

Another bolt of lightning struck her, and she cried out a little bit, taking a step back as she discarded her four cards from the top of her deck.

**(Aurum: 7400) - - - - - - - (Gyuki: 7100)**

Golem fell back to 2200 attack points.

Looking at the single card remaining in his hand, he grumbled, "I can't do anything else, I merely end my turn."

"Good, my turn!" She drew her card. "I activate Miracle Rupture! By sending a Rock monster from my deck to the graveyard, I can draw a card!"

"Weren't you listening, you stupid bitch?" Laughed Gyuki as she took her monster, a monster called Monk Fighter and slipped it into her graveyard. "you still take damage from my Paralyzing Chain!" Another blast of electricity struck her, making her grit her teeth.

"I know that…" She hissed, drawing a card after her deck had automatically shuffled. "But that's the last time I'm going to take damage from that damn card! Gigantes, attack Iron Chain Golem!"

"What?"

Gigantes roared and lifted up his tree weapon again. Before he had a chance to swing it, Iron Chain Golem wrapped his chain around the brute's neck. With a hard yank, the giant's neck was snapped, and the tree trunk fell from his grasp. He disappeared in a shower of pixels, the chain going limp.

When suddenly, a violent whirlwind began to erupt around the field, much to Gyuki's surprise. Holding his arms up, he watched as, before his very eyes, Poison Chain, Paralyzing Chain, Soul Anchor and Aurums facedown card all exploded violently.

"I will admit, losing Heavy Storm to the Ban List did hit duelists pretty hard…' Aurum conversed as her hair whipped about wildly, the storm dying down and someone ending up straight and perfect. "But while I have Gigantes, I'm not too worried. When he's destroyed in battle, all Spells and traps on the field are destroyed. And with two less chains, Iron Golem loses more of its strength."

Iron Chain Golem's aura began to slowly burn out, until only a little bit of it remained, very dimly though. (2200/800) - (1600/800)

"Power Giant, attack Golem!" Once more, the massive monolith seemed to skate across the floor, pulling a fist back and swung it hard, colliding with Golem. The massive, heavily built monster released a groan and fell back, falling to the ground in a shower of pixels.

**(Aurum: 6800) - - - - - - - (Gyuki: 6500)**

"Grr…" Gyuki grumbled as he watched his only monster rub his stomach out of fear. "You know, if you had any brains, you'da crushed my Repairman."

"Yeah, but without his Anchor, he's pretty vulnerable. If you revive, you have to skip your battle phase, so I still have a chance to crush him next turn anyway."

"You'd think that." Grumbled the Yokai. "Now end your turn!"

"Oh, I will." She gestured, and from behind arose a massive trap card's hologram appeared, which depicted Master Monk punching his way through a massive boulder. "After I activate the effect of my Crumbling Boulder trap card."

"But the only trap card you had was destroyed!"

"Which is why I can activate it! It can only be used when it's destroyed by a card effect, and during the End Phase. I can now take any Rock monster I want from my deck and add it to my hand." She took the card, and giving it a quick look, nodded. "I end my turn."

Drawing his card, Gyuki smirked. "Heh, well, looks like we're heading off to the big house sooner than I thought! I activate Iron Chain Prison!"

The walls shifted and formed into something completely different the second he activated his spell. They turned murky and grey, similar to stone walls, multileveled and peppered with prison cells. In between every cell was a pair of iron shackles. Some even had a limp skeleton hanging from them in various positions, some even reaching out for something. Aurum attempted not to think about it.

"And outside of giving the whole place that lovely, lived in look, all my Iron Chain monsters gain 400 Attack." Indeed, Iron Chain Repairman chortled as he rose to 2000 Attack points. "But like you said, I don't have much choice except doing this."

The hammer once more came down on the ground, cracking open another massive hole. The Iron Chain Snake slithered out of the hole and lunged forward, wrapping around Power Giant and locking his arms to the side. (2200/0) - (1400/0)

"Since I have to skip my battle phase, I'll just end my turn."

Aurum drew her card and looked cautiously at the scenery around her. _There has to be another thing this place can do outside of look really depressing. But what?_

"I activate Precarious Hanging Boulder!"

For a moment, it seemed as though nothing happened. The spell appeared, but nothing else. "Nothing happened.' Gyuki said, pointing out the obvious.

"Look about it." Aurum said with a grin. Both eyes turned up near the ceiling to see an IMMENSE boulder hanging almost 20 feet above the duel, held up by a leather tarp, and strung up on the thinnest string Gyuki had ever seen.

"That's my Precarious Hanging Boulder.' She chuckled. "Aptly named. By removing one rock monster in my graveyard…" She held up Gigantes. "That thing hangs above our heads like the Sword of Damocles. The first monster stupid enough to attack will end up snapping the rope and crushed before he even gets to the other monster. Pretty risky if you ask me."

That was when the Prison around them began to howl, and the iron chains on the walls and, much to Aurums not surprise, on the Iron Bars in front of the cells themselves, began to shake and rattle.

"And that would be the second effect of my Iron Chain Prison." He chuckled. "You lose a card form your deck whenever you activate a Spell card!"

She silently cursed herself as she angrily discarded ANOTHER card from the top of her deck. She gestured, and Power Giant knelt down in defense mode. "I end my turn!"

"Well, if I can't attack…" Grumbled Gyuki as he angrily drew his card. "Then I'll just go ahead and build my army! I activate my Repairman's effect! Come forth, Golem!"

The Repairman didn't even have a chance to slam his hammer on the ground before the ground behind Gyuki simply exploded upward. From the hole appeared the massive beast, covered in the Iron Chains. (1000/800) - (2600/800)

"I'll end my turn after that."

Aurum drew a card, and looked at her hand. _Well, it's a good defense if anything._ She thought to herself. "I activate Guidance to Ore."

"You're so stupid! It's like you WANT to destroy your deck!"

The chains began to shudder and shake harder as Aurum discarded another card from her deck. From behind Aurum appeared a massive, open mouth cave. "Now whenever you destroy another Rock monster on my side of the field, a monster with the same name will take its place. So with that, I'll summon Monk Fighter in attack mode."

With a shout of battle, a man wearing a yellow gi, with stock white hair, and gravely looking skin appeared, holding his hand out to battle. (1300/1000)

"I'll end my turn." She said._ I just need to make sure I can last a little bit longer. I may have a chance to turn this around._

"Let's see if Lady Luck is shining down on me." Gyuki said as he drew. A grin spread on his face as he looked at the spell. "I play Pot of Duality!"

A strange looking pot appeared in front of him, which held the calm, serene look of Pot of Generosity, which quickly turned on its base to show the malevolent, grinning face of the Pot of Greed. Gyuki took this time to discard the top card of his deck, as per the effect of his prison.

"Now here's what I can do. I can pick up the top 3 cards of my deck, and then pick one to add to my hand. The other two will go back to the bottom of my deck at the cost of me not being able to Special Summon this turn." He picked up the top three cards and showed them. Aurum groaned: One of them was Mystical Space Typhoon.

"Heh, guess which one I'm taking?" He grinned, taking the spell to his hand and shuffling the other two cards back into his deck. The second that was done, he threw the spell into his disk and, after discarding another card for the cost, the massive typhoon shot high into the air, sucking the boulder hanging above the two duelists was ripped apart and shattered to pebbles.

"Now that that's not hanging above my head anymore, I think we can get the slaughter done, eh?" He gestured. "Iron Chain Golem, attack Power Giant!"

Iron Chain Golem swung his chain down on the gemmed creature, shattering it. Since it was considered level 2 at the time, Aurum slowly discarded another two cards, eyes locking on one of the monsters she discarded. The darkness in the cave behind Aurum shifted, and out stepped another Power Giant. (2200/0)

"Repairman, crush Monk Fighter!" The hammer came down, causing the Shockwave. Monk Fighter tried to fight against the rumbling earthquake, and try as he might, he could not. He shattered into rubble. His death was seemingly short lived as a second as a second copy of his card strolled out of the cave. (1300/1000)

"heh, I have to say, I'm starting to have fun." Gyuki grinned to the Shadowchaser, a smug look plastered on his face. The smirk was short lived though, as it slowly disappeared into a confused frown.

_..out to get you…_

_Trust no one…_

_Betrayal…_

"No…" he grumbled a little bit, rubbing his head. "Not…not again…"

"You okay?" Aurum asked in confusion as she slowly drew her card. When he didn't respond and continued mumbling to himself, she shrugged and played a new card. "I remove from play my Power Giant and Monk Fighter to summon Gaia Plate the Earth Giant in attack mode!"

The ground exploded upward once again as a massive form rose. It looked like a giant made entirely out of boulders and rocks of various shapes and sizes. It let loose a groan that sounded like an avalanche. (2800/1000)

That seemed to snap Gyuki out of his little schizophrenic moment to look up at the GIANT beast that rose up from seemingly nowhere. "Oooh boy."

"Oh, and by the way, he's got a bit more punch than a few other guys in my deck. Such a punch, he shrinks any monster into half their current attack. Let's get this on! Gaia Plate, attack Golem! Power Giant, attack Repairman! Monk Fighter, attack him directly!"

The next few seconds were rather chaotic. Gaia Plate went first and threw a punch at the massive, Frankenstein-esque monster. The attack of the monster fell to (1150/400) and once it collided with his chest, a gaping hole stood there his fist had connected with. The golem looked down at it in minor boredom before he fell over and crumbled.

Power Giant skated across the ground again, throwing a punch at the fat monsters exposed gut. Repairman let loose a wheezing scream as he flew past Gyuki and into the wall of the prison, shattering into pixels after leading an indent in the wall of his shape.

Master Monk leapt into the air and forced his palm against Gyuki's nose. The demon screamed and backed away, holding his now injured snout and growled.

**(Aurum: 6500) - - - - - - - (Gyuki: 3350)**

"You bitch." Gyuki snarled. "You're gonna pay for making a fool out of me."

"I fail to see where I'm paying, especially when I have an army of monsters waiting to throw you around like a damn ragdoll." She grinned a little bit. She seemed to calm down quite a bit since her little brutal attack at the beginning of the confrontation. She looked at the last two cards in her hand, and she nodded. "I'll end my turn."

"Draw!" he shouted and drew his card. Consisting of only two cards, he grinned at it and pointed at his facedown. "I activate Call of the Haunted to revive Repairman!"

The trap appeared, and in a ripple of light, Repairman did as well. He was still holding his stomach from the painful punch declared against him. (1600/1200)

"Then, I'll Summon Iron Chain Coil."

A confusing monster appeared. A big, yellow head, sitting atop a metal skirt like protrusion, two long arms attached by lanky Iron Chains, and what looked like hair sticking out the back of the massive head. (1100/1600)

"And now, Synchro Summon!"

Iron Chain Coil released a low cackle as he glowed for a moment before exploding into three rings. They coiled around Iron Chain Repairman, who began to glow green before exploding into seven stars. The Seven stars formed into a massive, massive creature. It looked like Iron Chain Golem at first glance, but it's muscles were far bigger, it's chains were coated in large spikes, it had neck bolts in its neck. In fact, it looked even more like Frankenstein than the Golem. (2500/1200) - (2900/1200)

"I summon to the field, Iron Chain Stein Golem!"

Aurum backed away a little bit as the giant fiendish monster released a low groan, his chains shaking as he shook as well.

"Iron Chain Stein Golem, reduce her Power Giant to rubble!"

The monster let loose another groan that caused the prison to shudder. Reaching one hand up, it opened its palm and dozens of chains shot out. They struck the Power Giant with the force of a semi, punching a massive hole in his chest. He shattered into pixels.

**(Aurum: 5800) - - - - - - - (Gyuki: 3350)**

"Now, since I inflicted damage to you with my Stein Golem, you now lose cards from your deck equal to the number of "Chain" cards on my field, and that's two."

Aurum begrudgingly discarded two cards, and noticed that Stein Golem rose to 3300 Attack.

"Then, for every card you lost with that effect, he gains 200 Attack points. I'll set one final card facedown, and end my turn."

"Draw!" She drew her card. "First, I remove Power Giant from play to keep Gaia Plate in play…" She pocketed the said card. "Now he'll attack your monster!"

The giant statue pulled a fist back, and Iron Chain Stein Golem fell to 1650 Attack points…

"Thank you for falling for an obvious trap," Gyuki sneered, "Go, Iron Chain Storm!"

From the floor around Gaia Plate shot up several chains, wrapping around its arms and legs. It didn't stop the attack though. (2800/1000) - (1400/500)

"Iron Chain Storm is a very rare little spell card that halves the attack of a monster on the field, and for every five hundred attack point lost by its effect, you lose a card form your deck! Not to mention you're about to lose a lot more…"

The chains shot out like a machine gun, striking the giant statue in the head. It crumbled into pebbles moments later.

In all, Aurum discarded another four cards from the top of her deck, and Iron Chain Stein Golem rose to 2050.

Aurum grimaced a little and quickly turned the last card on her deck. "I'll switch Monk Fighter to defense mode and end my turn."

"Getting nervous, Shadowchaser?" Gyuki asked, drawing his card and smirking. "I don't blame you." He set down his newly drawn card, Mirror Force, and ordered Stein Golem to attack Monk Fighter. As the last two times, Monk Fighter was reduced to pebbles.

"I'll end my turn." He smirked. _It's all in the bag now…_

Aurum took a deep breath and calmly drew her card. _Come on, something good, something good…_She flipped it over, smiling. "That'll do. I summon Sapphire Dragon in attack mode."

A dragon made entirely out of sapphire appeared, curled up and standing stock still, like it was a statue. (800/1000)

"When he's summoned, I'm allowed to take a monster in my graveyard with zero attack and Special Summon it, and I'll do so with Magic Hole Golem."

The ground opened up, and out came an ornate ring shaped rock, covered in markings and armor. (0/2000)

"Now, I'll tune both of my monsters together! Shuddering Rocks and explosive earthquakes, the earth itself opens to reveal the new warrior!" She chanted. "Synchro Summon, Kiyama Kuma!" Sapphire Dragon burst into three rings, which the circled the Magic Hole Golem. They burst into seven stars, which began to form into a rather large warrior. He had rocky skin, with a large bearskin that was draped over its back. Its chest was covered in a rusty chainmail armor, and in either hand he held a massive golden battle axe. (2600/2000)

"But why stop there? I have one more monster to summon, one of the strongest cards in my deck!" She shouted and pulled out the rest of the Rock monsters in her graveyard, pocketing all ten and throwing one final card in her hand to the field. "Summon Megarock Dragon!"

The earth exploded again as the rock dragon, one of the most well known Rock-Type monsters in the game appeared before the two, roaring in anger, as it's aura grew. (?/?) - (7000/7000)

"Now to Kiyama's effect." She said as she pointed to her big monster. "He's got a few effects actually, now that I have all of my rocks removed from play. Since there's more than two removed from play, he can't be destroyed by monsters card effects."

She held up a second finger. "Since there's more than four removed from play Rocks, he gains 300 attack and defense." Indeed, the aura around the two axes began to glow even brighter, as he rose in attack. (2600/2000) - (7100/6500)

"And finally, since I have more than six removed, I can return two from my removed from play slot and destroy one card on the field. That facedown is looking pretty threatening…"

Gyuki's eyes widened as she returned two more Rocks from her pocket to the grave, and the axe in his right hand began to glow. Bellowing out, he threw the axe, watching as it arced over the field and slammed into the trap, cutting it clean in half.

Gesturing, the axe appeared back in the warriors hand, though he fell to 6500/5900 stats. It was far more than enough though.

"Kiyama, you first. Kill Stein Golem."

The Warrior released a battle cry and threw his battle axe at the monster. It struck the massive beast, who released a low groan before he shattered into pixels, the axe falling to the ground.

Gyuki barely had time to react before the giant boulder belonging to theMegarock Dragon struck him and knocked him back.

**(Aurum: 5550) - - - - - - - (Gyuki: 0)**

Aurum sighed a little bit as the field around them vanished. "Too close…" She looked up, noticing that Gyuki wasn't moving. She frowned. "Oh come on, it wasn't THAT painful. Get up, it was only-"

"Get out of my head…"

"Hm?" She blinked. "Hey…you all right over there?" She asked.

He began to squirm a little bit, groaning as his movements began to grow a little bit more frantic. "They're all over me…get them, get them off me! GET THEM OFF ME!"

"Hey, relax!" Aurum shouted as she rushed forward. Indeed, the confidence that was once in Gyuki's eyes had all but vanished. Instead, there was only fear.

"They're all over me!" He didn't seem to register the fact there wa s nothing on him. "They're all over me, they're in my HEAD! MAKE THEM STOP, I DON'T WANT TO ANYMORE!"

"Gyuki, CALM DOWN!" She shouted, grabbing his shoulders and trying to force him down. "Nothing is happening, nothing is-"

But she stopped when she realized he wasn't moving anymore. He was still alive, as she noted when she took his pulse, and sighed a little. "He must have fainted…" She mumbled a little frowning down at him. "Pulse is going a mile a minute…what on earth was going on?"

So, as she used her crystal on Gyuki, she stood up and noticed the entire bar was still a little trashed. A sweatdrop dripped down her head, and she hid her face.

"Naga and Ao are not gonna be happy when they get the bill for this place…"

…

**Iron Chain Golem  
>Type<strong>: Fiend/Earth/Effect  
><strong>AttackDefense**: 1000/800  
><strong>LV<strong>: 4  
><strong>Effect<strong>: This card gains 300 Attack for each face up "Chain" card on the field.

**Iron Chain Prison  
>Type<strong>: Field Spell  
><strong>Image<strong>: A massive prison, lined with Iron Chains on the walls and cells.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: All "Iron Chain" monsters gain 400 Attack. When a player activates a Spell card, discard the top card from their deck to the graveyard.

**Iron Chain Stein Golem  
>Type<strong>: Fiend/Earth/Synchro  
><strong>AttackDefense**: 2500/1200  
>LV: 7<br>**Effect**: 1 "Iron Chain" Tuner Monster + 1 or more Non-Tuner Monsters  
>When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponents life points, discard the top card of their deck equal to the number of "Chain" cards on your side of the field. Increase this cards ATK by 200 for each card discarded by this effect.<p>

**Sapphire Dragon  
>Type<strong>: Rock/Earth/Tuner  
><strong>AttackDefense**: 800/1000  
><strong>LV<strong>: 3  
><strong>Effect<strong>: When this card is Normal Summoned, Special Summon one ROCK-Type monster in your graveyard with 0 Attack.

**Kyama Kuma  
>Type<strong>: Rock/Earth/Synchro  
><strong>AttackDefense**: 2600/2000  
><strong>LV<strong>: 7  
><strong>Effect<strong>: 1 Tuner monster + One or more Non-Tuner Monsters  
>This card gains the following effects depending on the number of removed from play ROCK-Types.<br>-2 or more: This card cannot be destroyed by monster effects.  
>-4 or More: For each of your Removed from play Rock-Types, increase this cards ATK and DEF by 300.<br>-6 or more: By Returning 2 of your removed from play Rock Types, you may select one card on the field and destroy it (A card targeted by this effect cannot be activated).

_Note: The above five cards were created by Lux-Nero and used with Permission. All creative credit goes to him._

**Guidance to Ore  
>Type<strong>: Spell/Continuous  
><strong>Image<strong>: A hole in the middle of a mountain side.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: When a ROCK-Type monster you control is destroyed, you can Special Summon one monster from your deck with the same name as the destroyed monster.

_Note: Guidance to Ore was first used by T-Bone in the anime episode, "J-Dawg and T-Bone". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Miracle Rupture  
>Type<strong>: Spell  
><strong>Image<strong>: A bright light above Giant Soldier of Stone  
><strong>Effect<strong>: Send one Rock-Type monster from your deck to the graveyard. Then, draw one card.

_Note: Miracle Rupture was first used by Jim "Crocodile" Cook in the anime episode, "A Sight Unseen". All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

**Iron Chain Storm  
>Type<strong>: Spell/Quick-Play  
><strong>Image<strong>: Iron Chain Dragon floating in the background as a Blue Eyes White Dragon is wrapped in Iron Chains.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: Activate only when you have a face up "Iron Chain" Synchro Monster. One monster your opponent controls has it's ATK halved. For each 500 Attack reduced by this effect, the opponent discards the top card of their deck.

**Crumbling Boulder  
>Type<strong>: Trap  
><strong>Image<strong>: Monk Master punching his way through a massive boulder  
><strong>Effect<strong>: During the end phase of which this card was destroyed by a card effect, add one ROCK-Type monster from your deck to your hand.

**Precarious Hanging Boulder  
>Type<strong>: Spell/Continuous  
><strong>Image<strong>: Chick the Yellow reaching for a red gem on a pedestal as a massive boulder prepares to crush him.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: Remove from play one ROCK-Type monster in your graveyard. Destroy the first monster that declares an attack before the damage step and this card.

…

**While people deal with the present, many people also deal with the past.**

**More often than not, people will disregard the past.**

**However, the past will always follow everyone, whether it's good or bad. Depends on the person.**

**Next time, on "Journey!"**

**The next of our Shadowchaser from the land of the rising sun appears, dealing with a shadow of his past!**

"**The Shadows of Time Before strike!"**

**Coming soon!**


	2. The Shadows of Time's Before Strike!

**Lux-Nero:** Good day everyone! Lux-Nero here, being a part of the trio behind this little masterpiece in the works! Yeah, I've got a lot of pride here, but who wouldn't when this is technically his first co-authoring story with a pair of other classy writers – MetalOverlord and MichaelDJ54. We all have different writing styles and we all have different things to bring to the table, but that's what makes this story so awesome!

You get three authors for the price of one! Each one giving a character that's from the madness of our minds – Like how Aurum was of my design! lol

But enough of me gabbing on and on, let's get this chapter on a roll!

TTTTT

_**Everyone's been an outcast at least once in their life. Whether it be you were dragged to a party where you didn't know anyone, you had a hellish high school life, or you're like me – You're part of a race that has a bad rep with every other single race in the Shadowkind Community.**_

… _**That last one might be a little bit of a stretch for those of you who are reading this, but whatever. **_

_**The point is, even though I am a member of the Tokyo Shadowchaser team, I still don't get a lot of respect from other Shadowchasers, save for my direct teammates, just because I happen to be a part of THAT race. **_

_**It's gotten down on me a few times in the past, but I remember what my teacher told me…**_

"_**Its not about the blood inside you, it's about the heart that pumps it that matters."**_

_**To this day, I think he stole that line from something, but it still has meaning and allows me to keep going – Especially through all the stuff I deal with on a day-to-day basis – Which includes the events that lead up to here…**_

**TTTTTTTTT**

**Chapter 2**

**The Shadows of Time's Before Strike!**

**TTTTTTTTT**

"… Bored, bored, bored…" A cold breeze echoed through the darkened room, flying about several pillars of ice that decorated that room. Atop of one of the pillars was a small shadowed figured that kicked their legs a few times over the edge of it. "Bored… Bored… I'm BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORED!"

Along with the pillars of ice, the ground was covered with ice, which explained why the shadowed figure was atop of the pillars. "Humph! Why can't we go out and play? Its soooooooo booooooooooooooring! Claudy's being mean again!"

The sound of clacking echoed through the room, quickly garnering the attention of the shadowed figure towards the icy floor below them. Seated next to the pillar that the first figure was on, was another figure with a beastly figure that looked upwards. "Milady, you know that the lord has good reason for keeping us in here at this time. Soon though, we shall…"

"Sulphy!" The first figure cheered loudly as she quickly leapt from the pillar and crashed into the beasty figure's body, sending them both to the ground.

A loud yelp echoed through the room, making 'Sulphy' stand up from the unexpected tackle a cough a few times, "P-Please refrain from doing that, milady! I just had my fur groomed and…"

'Sulphy' never got to finish as the shadowed figured wrapped her arms around 'Sulphy's neck, making the beasty figure gag slightly. "Aw, don't be like that, Sulphy! We can't go out till mean old Claudy gives the word, so I need you to keep me from dying of boredom!"

"GARGH!" 'Sulphy' gagged loudly.

TTTTTTTTT

Ueno Park, a place known for the many museums that surrounded the area, which enriched the land with culture and information for all who come to the visit its vast location and take in all of the sights and sounds. It was around the time that a certain Yokai of the House of Raging Earth was throwing bar furniture at out of work musicians and then getting smacked around by a muscular Shadowchaser.

And outside Ueno Park, parked on the street just outside the park was a lone D-Wheel. The D-Wheel itself was a thing of beauty, styled after the Honda CBR10000RR series, with a black and metallic green paint job on it. Its owner was leaning up against it, casually looking through a black PDA.

"Junk mail, junk mail," The young man sighed as he scrolled through the list of e-mail. "Hate mail, more hate mail…"

The young man in question was a sleek and slender young man, with pale skin and long black hair that was draped over his shoulders. He was dressed in a very baggy white hoodie that had several black stripes on the shoulders and on the pulled up hood, as well as a pair of dark gray baggy cargo pants. Hanging around his neck was a pair of older headphones that were connected to a iPod that he had in his hoodie's pocket.

The most eye-catching feature of this slender man, was the fact that his eyes themselves were a deep forest green with slits where the irises would be. Almost as if…

"Oh, an e-mail from sensei!" The young man happily stated with a smile appearing on his glum face. "I should probably save that one for last, I'm gonna need after this load of hate mail."

The young man sighed loudly as he went past the e-mail and trailed through the rest of his messages. However, as he went past them, he couldn't help but sigh loudly at the sight of a majority of them being spam, or hate mail. '_Don't these people have anything better to do than heckle me?'_

At that moment, there was a loud beep from the young man's PDA, alerting him of another e-mail had just appeared in the in-box. "Great, fresh off the press, another hate mail."

Just as the man was about to delete the mail, it immediately opened itself up and the message materialized on the screen. "Good day you lousy excuse of a man! You've got a lot of nerve showing your non-scaly face around here, I think its time that we…"

"Delete," The young man sighed again. "I think I should get an e-mail block on these guys."

Another beep echoed from the PDA, and immediately a new e-mail popped into the young man's inbox, which immediately opened up. "HEY, JACKASS! How about you let someone finish talking before you delete someone's e-mail and…"

"Delete," The young man muttered as he pushed the same button again.

Then with his free hand, the young man counted down from three on his fingers, and as soon as he reached zero – BEEP! "If you delete this message, then I'll lay waste to the shrine that's here at the park. And you know me, Naga, you know I don't bluff.

"Katakana."

The young man - Naga sighed loudly, lowering his head as he pocketed his PDA and turned towards his D-Wheel, '_If it's him, then I know what he's aiming for… Why can't he ever get a life?'_

Holding his arm up to the dashboard, Naga allowed the duel disk attachment to clip onto his left arm. When it was secured to his arm, the young man slowly walked away from his D-Wheel that beeped loudly a few times, signifying that the security for the machine was activated.

TTTTTTT

A few minutes later…

Going through the crowds of people, Naga kept his head lowered, allowing his hair and hood cover his eyes. Even though he knew that more than likely unable to see his eyes, he couldn't help but cover his eyes from everyone he passed.

He only looked up to make sure he was heading the right way and that he wasn't going to bump into people. It wasn't that he was ashamed of himself, but he just didn't want to make waves with what he looked like with people who could see him. And there were other Shadowkind in the crowd, so they could definitely see what he was… And depending on what kind of Shadowkind, perhaps even smell him.

So he quickly made his way towards the shrines in the park, trying to make sure that he didn't get seen for what he truly was.

When he reached the shrines, Naga couldn't help but notice that there was a large amount of yellow police tape that was sectioning off the shrines. Because of that, there was hardly anyone around, a lot of people were just walking by, not even paying attention.

With a loud sigh, Naga quickly slipped under the tape and began to walk in between the emptied, ancient shrines. For a moment, the young Shadowchaser stopped in his tracks and looked around the entire area. Then with a second loud sigh, Naga pulled his hood back, allowing his long black hair to billow down onto his shoulders and down his back. "Alright, Katakana! I'm here, let's get this little hateful vendetta of yours out of the way!"

"Humph, good to see you're actually quick to the point now," A voice as slippery as grease echoed through the air. "Although, it was still rude to ignore those e-mails I sent ya poor excuse of a gecko."

"Hard to be polite with someone who hates your guts, Katakana," Naga sighed with his gaze turning around to look at the shrines. "And you know as well as I do that I'm no gecko."

"I'll give you that," the greasy voice cackled as the sound of footsteps began to sound through out the shrine's area. "Referencing you to any cold-blooded creature is just a spit in the face."

Stepping out from one of the shrines was another sleek man, dressed in a black overcoat, black pants, black vest, white dress shirt and a fancy black fedora that he had lowered to cover his eyes, but allowed his wild green colored hair to billow out from underneath the hat. As stated, the man in question was slim, almost to the point to call him gaunt with his clothes billowing off of his skinny body and whatever skin he showed – Like with his sharp face and hands – was an unhealthy pale colored.

However, Naga was able to see what this man really was – His pale skin was actually a very bright white scaley skin, his tongue slipped out of his mouth a few times, showing that it was long and thin and ended in two prongs, and coiling around his legs was a long tail that moved when he took a step.

"Defacing tributes to other deities again, Katakana?" Naga questioned as he leered at the fedora wearing man.

"Humph, like I'd do that any more," Katakana hissed with a shrug of his shoulders. "Anyone can serve whoever the hell they want to now-a-days."

Naga couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he heard that. "Wow, didn't expect that… I was expecting you to belittle them and say that they were fools for not following Seguhulerak."

Katakana sighed as he pushed up his hat, revealing a pair of sharp bright yellow eyes that were narrowed down at Naga. "Please, you of all people should know that the Ophidia don't have a god, just an oppressor. I've finally opened my eyes to the truth since last year."

"I was wondering why I didn't from you in a while," Naga answered with a small smile on his face. "I guess what happened in the states opened the eyes of many people from our kind, and if someone like you could…"

"Keep your trap shut," Katakana growled with a curled smirk on his face. "Just because I've opened my eyes to the truth about our goddess, that doesn't mean that I all of a sudden like you. I just broadened my level of hatred to non-believers to people who are just a disgrace towards the Ophidia race. And as far as I stand, that includes all the people who are still following Seguhulerak and those who are traitorous to our race."

"And I'm guessing that includes me still, right?" Naga moaned out of annoyance.

"Still smart as before Naga," Katakana chuckled as he ran a scaly finger along the rim of his fedora. "You may not be a dog of Seguhulerak, but you're a dog of Jalal. Frankly, I can't stand the fact that while our people are suffering at the hands of an immortal dragon, and at the same time getting deeper in the hole because we're following a god that keeps telling us to do shitty jobs that might as well be to tell us that we should wear bull's eyes on our backs!"

"… Not to interrupt your rant," Naga coughed out loud. "But was there a point why you called me out here, while threatening to lay 'waste' to these shrines?" 

Katakana smirked as he jumped from the shrine and landed on the concrete slabs that were in front of Naga. "Of course, I owe you a few things Naga – The first being that I owe you an apology."

Now, Naga's eyes were as wide as Katakana bowed down slightly, pulling his hat off to reveal his hair. "Not only do I feel the pain that you did when you joined the Shadowchasers, I now know how you feel to be seen as a traitor towards that false god that rules over our people."

"Wow, I didn't expect that," Naga admitted with a rub of the back of his head. "Usually you're just slinging insults at me all the time. An apology's pretty out in left field."

"Don't get too comfortable with that," Katakana answered back as he plopped the hat back onto his head as he stood up straight. "I still hate your guts. The Shadowchasers are still a major pain in the ass to Ophidia race, so by logic, that makes you a pain in the ass."

"And we're back into insult mode," Naga sighed loudly.

"Quite so," Katakana chuckled as he reached into his pocket. "But, I'm a new man, I got new priorities, and I'm aiming to change this vile world… Of course, in order for me to do that, I need to cut all the dead weight of my past.

"And that includes you."

Katakana pulled his hand from his pocket, revealing a small rectangular green device, no bigger than a smart phone. With a smile, the green haired man placed the device on his arm, making it latch around his thin arm. A few seconds passed before the device unfolded itself and transformed into a sleek duel disk that folded out. "Before I can fully begin my plans, I need to cut the losses that I've had with you. If I can win against you, then I'll be able to conquer anything."

"So, essentially, you're trying to use this as a confidence booster?" Naga questioned with a raised eyebrow. "At what point did you think that I would consider doing this waste of time?"

"If you didn't consider this," Katakana replied with a lick of his lips. "Then why'd you show up to those e-mails that I hired a Shadowjack to send ya? You know that I'm no coward, and that I'll do whatever the hell I'll say… Cause I don't like being a liar, unlike a majority of people in this world."

"So, you'll still lay waste to these temples then if I don't duel you?" Naga questioned as he reached into his hoodie and pulled out a deck of cards. "I'll say this Katakana, your new self is at least true to itself."

"Thank you very much… Now shut up and duel!" Katakana laughed as he snapped his deck into the duel disk, while Naga did the same thing.

Both duel disks lit up, immediately allowing both duelists to pull off the top five cards from their decks.

"DUEL!"

Katakana ran a finger along the rim of his hat and smirked at his hand of cards, "You don't have to worry you lousy sack of cold-blood, I've taken up a more… Chivalrous persona. Since, I was the one to call you out, you may take the first turn." (KLP: 8000)

"Thanks… I think," Naga stated as he drew from the top of his deck. Looking at the card, Naga nodded as he immediately slapped it onto his duel disk. "One monster set!" (NLP: 8000)

"Defensively already?" Katakana questioned with a loud sigh following. "I'm starting to get bored already."

"Remember, you were the one who challenged me," Naga stated as he slipped a single card into his duel disk, making it appear behind his set monster.

"Of course," Katakana chuckled with a wave of his hand. "I just would've figured you'd try something new other than being a turtle player off the bat."

"What can I say?" Naga replied with a shrug. "I'm not a very aggressive guy. As such, I'll end my turn."

Katakana smirked wildly as he flicked off the top card from his deck and spun it in his fingers, "I suppose that I should pick up the slack. And what better way to start off with a broken card!"

"Broken card?" Naga questioned as Katakana slipped the card he just drew from his deck into his duel disk.

The moment that the card fitted into the duel disk, a large familiar green and blue painted jar with a yellow toothed smiling face appeared in front of him. Naga's eyes widened at the sight of it and stepped back, "That's the Pot of Greed! But… But that card's been banned for years!"

"Indeed," Katakana replied as he spun around delivered a powerful axe kick to the pot of greed, shattering the pottery into millions of shards that danced on the ground near the snake-blooded man's feet. "Ah… I've been waiting a hell of a long time to do that! I've never been a fan of that giggling goon."

"I didn't think you'd sink that low," Naga stated with a shrug. "Especially after that long speech you gave me."

"Did you see me draw any cards?" Katakana snickered as he held up his hand of five cards. "No, what I played was known as the Shattered Pot of Greed, it's a continuous spell card. However, I think I'll wait till I tell you what this card can do.

"So, for now, I'll play two cards face down, and then I'll summon Giant Rat in attack mode!"

A loud squeak echoed through the temples, and one of the older temples' doors slammed open, immediately unleashing large blue furred rat with a human skull clutched in it paws (1400/1450). "Now, let's put those buck teeth to work! Giant Rat attack the set monster!"

The large rat leapt through the air and stabbed its teeth into the face down monster… And as it did, several gray tentacles erupted from the face down card and wrapped around the rat's neck, surprising the beast and making it gag loudly. The face down card shattered to reveal a rather gruesome little space creature with large red eyes and many long limbs and fingers (300/800). "Looks like during that little break you forgot about my deck strategy Katakana – Alien Grey's flip effect automatically places one A-Counter on your monster, and since my monster was destroyed when flipped face up, I can draw a card!"

The Giant Rat squeaked loudly as it fell forward and crushed the Alien Grey under its weight. However, the alien's shatter body became a small orb of light that floated around the rat's body. And like that, Naga drew from his deck.

"Hmm, seems like maybe I should get a few of those cards," Katakana admitted with a shrug. "Oh well. That's all I've got for now."

Naga was quiet as he drew from his deck, and slapped another card from his deck. "I summon Alien Warrior!"

A loud screech blasted through the air as a large white and gray blur crashed in front of Naga, revealing a large and tall reptilian monstrosity with gray armor over its gunmetal scaled skin with large claws on its hands and feet (1800/1000). The alien snarled loudly as it dug its foot claws into the ground.

"Hey, this is sacred ground!" Naga yelped with his hands held up, making the Alien Warrior jump slightly in surprise. "Don't damage the property."

The Alien Warrior growled sheepishly, with its head lowered.

"Wow, that's one pathetic alien," Katakana chuckled with a flat look in his eyes. "Hmm, I wonder if that makes me the predator…"

Naga's eyes turned dull for a few seconds before he snapped his fingers, making the large Alien Warrior rush over the field and grip its claws over the Giant Rat's body, slamming it into the ground (1400/1450 – 300/300). The large alien applied even more pressure, shattering the rat into millions of shards that slammed into Katakana's body, making him stagger backwards. (KLP: 7300).

"Urk!" Katakana gagged loudly as he tried to return to his regular stance. "First blood drawn by you… Too bad that cut was a bad choice! Since you destroyed my Giant Rat in battle, I get to summon any earth monster from my deck… Despite its level! If it was possible, I could summon a level one million monster from my deck! The only restriction is that I can only have it have less than fifteen hundred attack points.

"But with this deck, that's all I need to bring out the best monsters! Arise my rocky beast!"

The ground began to shake wildly, making Naga and the Alien Warrior stagger about. After a few seconds, the ground in front of Katakana erupted to unleash a large toad that looked to be completely made out of stone with a large underbelly and smoke erupting from the top of its body (1200/600). "Say hello to my Enraged Muka Muka! And for each card in my hand, this bad boy gains four hundred extra attack and defense points. So, for now, that's eight hundred points!"

The large Muka Muka began to grow larger and larger for each second that passed until it was towering over the Alien Warrior (1200/600 + 800/800). "So, care to help me any more this turn?"

"Nah, I'm good," Naga muttered with a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

"Then, my draw!" Katakana laughed loudly as he slipped off the top card from his deck, making the Enraged Muka Muka grow larger once more (2000/1400 + 400/400). "But don't think that I'm done powering up my monster – I play my face down card, Pact of Greed, and then I chain it with my other face down card, Appropriate!"

Both of Katakana's face down cards lifted up, both of them glowing brightly. "Now, thanks to Appropriate, when you draw outside your draw phase, I can draw two cards, so thanks to Pact of Greed, that means now! So you get one card, and I get three!"

Naga grimaced as he drew, his eyes widening as the Muka Muka was now on par of being a crab-version of Godzilla (2400/1800 + 1200/1200).

"And since he's super charged, that means I can plow right through your warrior!" Katakana laughed as he threw his hand into the air. "Enraged Muka Muka! Roll over his space menace!"

The large rock toad curled its jagged legs towards its bloated abdomen and immediately rolled over the field, crushing the surprised Alien Warrior into a fine white goop that splashed over the field. (NLP: 6200)

"Great," Naga muttered as the large Muka Muka leapt backwards, with two large orbs of glowing light emerging around its large body.

"Aw, you should be glad that I'm ending my turn with this set card," Katakana chuckled as he slipped another card into his duel disk, making the large Enraged Muka Muka shrink slightly (3600/3000 – 400/400). "And that's all for this turn."

Slowly, Naga began to reach for his deck… However…

"Not so fast!" Katakana laughed loudly as he pushed a button on his duel disk, making his latest set card flip upwards. "I play my trap card – Draw Paradox! So, instead of you drawing during your stand by phase, I get to draw instead. And then its vice-versa.

"So, I think I'll be taking your draw."

As Katakana pulled off the top card from his deck, the Enraged Muka Muka grew to its previous size (3200/2600 + 400/400). Naga bit his lower lip as he looked at the remaining cards in his hand before he slapped a card onto his duel disk. "I can't beat you in strength at the moment, but I can stop your monster in its tracks! I summon Alien Psychic!"

A small orb of light popped in front of Naga, immediately forming into a small snake like monster with large yellow eyes, wing-like appendages at its head, and a segmented body (200/100). "When normal summoned, my Alien Psychic is automatically switched to defense position. And as long as it's out, monsters with A-Counters can't attack!

"And in case you didn't notice, those two glowing orbs are…"

"A-Counters," Katakana sighed loudly with a wave of his hand. "I'm starting to remember your deck now."

"And your deck is as easily readable now," Naga pointed out. "A Muka Muka Greed deck?"

"It's a bit of a stretch in today's standards," Katakana sighed with a shake of his head. "But, I like it."

"In any case," Naga stated with his arms crossed. "Turn end."

"And instead of me drawing, you get to draw," Katakana explained as Naga drew from the top of his deck. "But, since you drew out of your draw phase, I get to draw two more cards thanks to my trap."

As Katakana pulled off the top two cards from his deck, making the enlarged rock crustacean grow even larger (3600/3000 + 800/800). "And now, since two of my draw phases have passed, I can send my Shattered Pot of Greed away in order to draw another two cards from my deck!"

Once again, Katakana snapped off two more cards, giving him nine cards in his hand. And because of that, the Enraged Muka Muka screeched loudly as its body seemed to get even bigger than what it could handle (4400/3800 + 800/800). "However, I can't attack. So I'll just play one more spell card – This one known as Infinite Cards!"

As the spell card appeared, the Enraged Muka Muka sighed slightly as its body shrank (5200/4600 – 400/400). And Naga, well, he sighed loudly – Now Katakana practically had everything he needed to keep that behemoth guarding over the field.

'_Even if I have Alien Psychic out, he probably has a regular Muka Muka running around in his deck,'_ Naga thought as he closed his eyes. '_Besides… Even if he doesn't, I'm willing to bet that his deck has sixty cards in it. So, I can't hope to deck him out, even if he does use all those draw engines…'_

Taking a deep breath, Naga just closed out everything else except his thoughts.

"_**Even if the whole world is against you, as long as you have a fraction of a percentage of success, then you'll have a chance to win!**_"

Naga's eyes snapped open and then narrowed down as he looked at his hand. "Alright Katakana, is that all you've got?"

"I can't attack, and I don't have any monsters I wanna play," Katakana admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, I don't wanna deal with your face down card. I don't have any of my spell and trap card disarming cards. So, turn end."

Naga reached for his deck, but then Katakana's Draw Paradox glowed brightly allowing the green haired man to pull another card from his deck and making the Enraged Muka Muka swell again (5200/4600). "I love this Draw Paradox card, it was so worth all that green I had to fork over."

"Yeah, but its not going to help your toad for too much longer," Naga announced as he turned around one of the cards in his hand. "I play Mysterious Triangle!"

Three small orbs of light appeared around the surprised Muka Muka, and then, all of the orbs of light connected with each other, forming into a tight triangle that crashed into the Enraged Muka Muka's body, shattering it into millions of shards that danced around Katakana's body. His eyes widened behind his green locks of hair, "W-What the? How did you…"

"When you've got a monster with A-Counters on it," Naga explained as a card popped out of his duel disk. "I can instantly destroy it and then I can summon a level four or lower Alien from my deck. So, meet Alien Shocktrooper!"

A powerful burst of light erupted from the ground, forming into a tall centaur like alien dressed in futuristic armor and armed with a hooked sword (1900/800). The alien hissed loudly as it brought its sword up to its head and Naga threw his hand forward. "Attack him directly!"

Katakana's eyes widened as the alien centaur galloped towards him and immediately slashed the fancily dressed snake-blooded man across the chest. "ARGH!" (KLP: 5400)

"Now, I'll play the continuous spell card – Code A Ancient Ruins!" Naga stated as the ground began to shake, allowing a large futuristic temple erupt behind the young man, and right behind him was a large pyramid and several blue cubes with weird writing. "Now, I'll end my turn, which means my Alien Shocktrooper gets destroyed as a side effect!"

The Shocktrooper smirked greatly before it disappeared, allowing a large light to float around the ruins. Naga bowed his head slightly, "Great, now I'm the one destroying the property. My apologies."

"Damn it!" Katakana snarled as he rubbed his suit and coat. "I don't need you ruining my fancy clothes. Now, draw!"

Naga sighed as he drew from the top of his deck while Katakana pulled off the top two cards from his deck, giving him ten cards this time around. "But it's all good. I summon the Avatar of Generosity in attack mode!"

Several sparkling lights began to dance down from the air, and a statue descended onto the field appearing to be made out of solid white marble appeared. It had the build of a flawless (and unclothed) woman, except where the head should have been was the Pot of Generosity (1300/1200). "Now, once during my stand by phase, I gain two hundred life points for each card in your hand. Now, since you've got three that means six hundred for me." (KLP: 6000)

"How is that generous?" Naga questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll see," Katakana snickered as he threw his hand forward. "For now Avatar of Generosity! Attack that Psychic!"

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

However, the Alien Psychic seemed to yawn and just slivered away, allowing a second orb of light to float around the Ancient Ruins. Both Naga and Katakana looked at each other with confused looks, until Katakana shrugged. "I haven't used that card yet, and I didn't know what its attack was like. Still, to be bored to death…"

"Odd," Naga answered.

Katakana shook it off and fitted a card into his duel disk, making the card appear behind his statue. "Turn end."

"And that means you get my draw," Naga stated as Katakana did as such.

"True, but during your stand by phase," Katakana chuckled as his Avatar of Generosity glowed brightly. "My statue allows you two draw a card, which is why it's so generous."

"You mean to you," Naga stated as he drew another card from his hand, as the Appropriation card glowed brightly, immediately allowing Katakana drew twice again. "Thanks to your trap, this generosity returns to you."

"You know what they say, do unto others," Katakana snickered.

"… That sounds so wrong coming from you," Naga stated as he looked at the card he drew. "But still, that means a lot since thanks to that last draw, I managed to pull one of my best monsters, and also thanks to you, I can summon it right now!"

"Say what?" Katakana questioned as the two lights around the ancient ruins began to disappear.

"By removing two A-Counters from the field," Naga announced as he slapped a card onto his duel disk. "I can summon Alien Overlord!"

A loud screech sounded through the air, instantly allowing a large black armored and red scaled alien to crash into the ground, roaring loudly. The alien's six arms ended with claws that dug into the ground while its long tail slammed against the concrete a few times (2200/1600).

Katakana stepped back when the alien looked him in the eye, after that, the large alien drew its head back and spat down on the Avatar of Generosity, instantly covering it with a green ooze. Katakana stuck his tongue out in disgust as the goop transformed into an orb of green energy that floated around its body. "Ugh, that's just disgusting."

"I know you've seen worst," Naga stated with a shrug. "Besides, at least you weren't vomited on… Interesting story, I heard that a Shadowchaser in the states had a carbuncle toss its cookies on his shoes. It was in the weekly news letter joke column."

"Lovely to hear," Katakana muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"Even more so when I play this," Naga stated as he slapped another card onto his duel disk, allowing a powerful red flame to erupt on the ground. "I summon Alien Telepath!"

From the flame, a large worm/catfish like alien slithered onto the field, screeching loudly as it slammed its claws into the ground (1600/1000). "Now, by removing that A-Counter on your statue, my Telepath can blast away one spell or trap on your field! And choose Draw Paradox!"

Both of the whiskers on the alien lifted up, both of them lighting up before they fired a pair of red beams of energy that crashed into the trap card – Shattering it like glass!

"Now, Telepath!" Naga announced as he tossed his hand up into the air. "Destroy the Avatar of Generosity!"

With a loud screech, the Telepath lifted up its whiskers once again, and fired a powerful burst of red energy that flew towards the statue. However, just as the energy was about to crash into the Avatar of Generosity, a large golden shield with a familiar grinning face (like from the Pot of Greed) appeared in front of the statue, catching the brunt of the attack, however a major portion of the energy crashed into Katakana's body. "URK!" (KLP: 5700)

"What in the world is that thing?" Naga questioned with a question mark appearing over his head.

"This is Gold Lined Shield," Katakana explained with a growl. "If I have six or more cards in my hand, then during the turn this trap is activated, none of my monsters this turn can be bested in battle!"

"But it looks like you still take battle damage!" Naga announced as the Alien Overlord screeched loudly. "Overlord! Your turn!"

The large alien leapt over the field and slammed all six of its clawed hands into large shield, creating a powerful shockwave that sent Katakana skidding backwards, a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. (KLP: 4800)

"Turn end!" Naga announced. "So, this is what your new self is capable of?"

"You haven't seen a thing yet," Katakana growled as he drew during his regular draw phase, giving him ten cards in his hand. "Now, to start this turn, I'll use my Avatar of Generosity to gain two hundred life points! You may have one card in your hand, but every little bit helps!" (KLP: 5000)

"And since I've got the cards in my hand, I might as well use them!" Katakana pulled one of the many cards in his hand and slipped it into his duel disk. "I play Star Blast! Now, by busting life points in increments of five hundred I can lower the level of one monster on the field or in my hand by one, and I choose a level eight monster in my hand!

"So, I'll pay two thousand life points!" (KLP: 3000)

Several pops of smoke erupted from Katakana's body, and with a smirk, the snake-blooded man slapped his card of choice onto his duel disk. "So, my level eight monster is now a level four! Meaning I can summon him without any troubles!

"So, give a round of sound to my strongest beast – Goblin Dragon!"

The ground began to shake as concrete shattered, immediately unleashing a large and tall, green scaled dragon with a load of jewels glittering on its body with a large crown on its head. All around the dragon's body were Pots of Greed, Jars of Greed, and Pots of Duality, and even more frightening was the fact that there was a familiar grinning face on its belly – The face of the Pot of Greed (3000/3000)! "Now, I'll set one card face down, and end my turn."

"What?" Naga questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you do that?"

"It's my choice," Katakana snickered with his arms crossed. "Now, please draw your next card, I have some other things that need to garner my attention, but we still need to end this right here."

Naga questioned the previous play, but shook his head as he drew from his deck, instantly realizing that the Avatar of Generosity was glowing brightly. "Right, thanks to your statue, I get to draw a card."

"Which in turn allows me to draw two more cards thanks to my trap," Katakana explained as he plucked two cards from his deck, instantly making the Goblin Dragon roar loudly as it grew larger (3000/3000 + 1000/0). "And that activates my Dragon's effect! Whenever I draw outside my draw phase, its attack increases by five hundred for each card I drew!"

Naga's eyes widened in surprise as the large green dragon roared once again, this time even stronger than before. "I see… So, that's… Pretty powerful with that deck of yours."

"Quite so," Katakana snickered.

"Too bad I'm using Overlord's effect!" Naga announced as he threw his arm up into the air, making the large six armed alien puke the weird green liquid over the field, making two orbs of light float around the two monsters on Katakana's effect. "So both of your monsters gain an A-Counter each! And that means that I can now use Telepath's effect to destroy one of your spells or trap cards, and I think I'll just get rid of your Appropriate!"

The orb of light disappeared, immediately allowing the large alien monster to lift up its whiskers and sent the two beams of light towards the lifted up trap card… Only to have a powerful barrier erupt over the trap card and reflect the two beams of light away from the tarp card. Katakana chuckled loudly as he crossed his arms, "I love this part, the part where your efforts become useless. I activated my trap card Imperial Custom, so my traps are practically invincible!"

'_I should've aimed for his spell card,'_ Naga scolded himself with a shake of his head. "W-Whatever! Overlord! Attack his Avatar of Generosity!"

With a loud screech, the Overlord dashed forward and wrapped its clawed hands around the statue before it ripped it into millions of pebbles. (KLP: 2100)

"Ah, the sweet taste of struggling," Katakana sighed as he fitted the card into his duel disk. "It's tangy actually."

"I… I switch Telepath to defense mode," Naga stated as the large red alien curled up into itself. "And I end my turn."

Katakana silently drew from his deck and immediately turned the card he just drew around, "Now, you're just running away… Lovely! I play Hand Destruction! Now, we both drop two cards from our hands, and then draw two cards… of course, since my trap is still out, I'll get four cards instead!"

Naga gulped as he drew the two cards while Katakana quickly lifted four cards from his, making the Goblin Dragon become a towering dragon that snickered over the two snake-blooded men (4000/3000 + 2000/0). "And if you forgot about my deck's main stream, I summon Muka Muka!"

The ground near the Katakana's feet began to rumble, unleashing… A small rocky crab (600/300). "And of course, my Muka Muka gains three hundred attack and defense points for each card in my hand, and since I've got eight, that's twenty four hundred!"

Almost on cue, the small crab grew to the size of Katakana himself, smoke erupting from the top of its head (600/300 + 2400/2400). "And now… Goblin Dragon, please burn his Overlord into the ground!"

Opening its mouth, the mighty emerald scaled dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a powerful burst of green flames that crashed into the Overlord, immediately turning the large alien into smoldering ashes that floated about Naga's body. (NLP: 2400)

"URK!" Naga yelped as an orb of light popped around his Code A Ancient Ruins.

"And now, Muka Muka! Crush the other alien!" Katakana roared loudly as he threw his hand up into the air, making the rocky crab leap into the air and immediately slammed into the Telepath, crushing the cat-fish faced alien into the ground.

Naga turned his gaze towards his spell card, now that it had two counters on it. But looking at the field, the young man lowered his head and sighed loudly, '_His monsters are strong, and his hand is full, I doubt that I could turn this around, and if his dragon keeps getting stronger… I don't think I've got anything that can beat it…'_

'_**Naga! If you can't beat your opponent with your own strength, then just use your opponent's strength!**_'

Naga's eyes widened as he stood up straight, Katakana snickered loudly, "Still trying to fight? Then how about you take your final turn?"

Naga smirked slightly as he drew from the top of his deck and nodded at the cards. "I set one card face down. And then I'll activate the effect of my Ruins! So, I can now special summon Alien Psychic from my graveyard!"

In a flash of light the familiar snake like alien appeared in front of Naga, coiling about slightly (200/100). "Now since your Goblin Dragon has an A-Counter on it, it can't attack. And to make sure your Muka-Muka can't do the same, I play Corruption Cell A! Which allows me to infect your crab as well!"

A small orb of light popped around the Muka Muka's body, making it freeze in place along with the Goblin Dragon. Katakana stuck his tongue out in annoyance, "Great."

"Alright, that's it," Naga stated with a loud sigh. "Turn end."

Naga grumbled under his breath as he drew, giving him nine cards, and making the Muka Muka larger (3000/2700 + 300/300). '_Humph, more draw engines, and no monsters that I can use. I'm willing to bet that the rest of my Mukas are at the bottom of my deck. And as much as I'd like to check, I can't rightly risk draining more of my deck, heck he might just take advantage of that.'_

"One free turn," Katakana chuckled as he wagged his finger slightly through the air. "That's all you get. Turn end." 

"And as soon as you end your turn, I chain with my trap card – Offerings to the Snake Deity!" Naga announced as several ghostly serpents erupted from the ground engulfing the Alien Psychic. "Now, by destroying my alien – Which is a reptile – I can destroy two of your cards! So, I choose Muka Muka and your Infinite Cards!"

The ghostly snakes erupted from the ground and wrapped around both the rocky crab and the spell card, shattering all three of the cards into millions of pixels that erupted through the air. Katakana's eyes widened in surprise as both of his cards disappeared, "NO! T-T-That means that…"

"You now need to dump a number of cards," Naga stated with a smirk on his face. "Until you hold six!"

Katakana's eyes widened as he dropped three cards from his hand to the ground, and almost at once, the Goblin Dragon screeched loudly in pain as it began to shrink (6000/3000 – 1500/0). Naga blinked a few times as Katakana slipped the cards into his graveyard slot, "What the? How'd that happen?"

"Goblin Dragon's a double edged sword," Katakana grumbled as he slipped the cards into his duel disk's graveyard. "Whenever I discard cards from my hand, it loses five hundred attack points for each card."

"I see, well, my turn!" Naga announced as he drew from the top of his deck and nodded. '_So, this is what you meant by using my opponent's strength against him, eh Sensei?'_

"I summon Alien Ammonite in attack mode!"

As soon as Naga slapped the card onto his duel disk, a powerful light popped from the ground, forming into another alien, this one quite small with a jagged and spiral crustacean shell (500/200). The aliens screeched loudly as a second light erupted from the ground. "When this tuner monster is summoned, I can instantly summon another Alien from my graveyard that level four or lower… So I choose Alien Psychic!"

The light popped, allowing the snake-like alien to appear on the field (200/100), coiling around itself.

Katakana blinked a few times at the monster that was now on the field, "Really? I was expecting you to bring out a level four monster and synch that one Alien Synchro that you usually ran… Of course, that monster wouldn't help you out anyway."

"Indeed," Naga admitted with a smirk on his face. "But like you, I too know how to evolve from a past version of myself – And I'll show you how I evolved thanks to your help!

"I tune my level one tuner with my level one Psychic… And your level eight Goblin Dragon!"

"Wait…" Katakana yelped as his large dragon popped into eight stars while the same happened to Naga's Alien Psychic. "WHAT?"

The Alien Ammonite transformed into a green ring that surrounded the nine lights, immediately transforming into a powerful tower of light that erupted over the field. The ground began to shake, making Katakana break out into a cold sweat as several tentacles erupted from the towering light, each of them slamming into the ground. As the light began to disappear, a large shadowed figure floated over Naga's form, countless red eyes riddling its body as the large shadowed alien screeched loudly, making Katakana fall backwards with his eyes widening (3000/3000). "Cosmic Emperor Gilgameth! And before you ask, I can Synchro summon this monster by using monsters on your side of the field that have A-Counters on them! And your level eight Goblin Dragon was just what I needed!"

"I… I…" Katakana yelped with a grimace painted over his face.

"Of course, I can't attack with it this turn since I summoned it with your monster," Naga stated as he snapped his fingers, making one of the tentacles of the large alien sweep over his field. "But that's not the point for this turn, I still have my Code A Ancient Ruins out on the field! And thanks to you again, I can use the two counters I got from your last rampage to summon a familiar face!"

The two orbs of light crashed into the ground, immediately allowing six long, yet familiar clawed hands to pull out the familiar Alien Overlord (2200/1600), obviously not happy with being destroyed previously.

"N-Now hold on a second!" Katakana yelped as he lifted his hand up. "I… I have no regrets about losing gracefully! But for the love of all that's holy – Don't hit me with that botulism attack! This is an Italian suit!"

"… Attack him directly," Naga muttered out loud as the Overlord drew his head back.

"No… NO… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Katakana screamed.

A loud, distraught scream echoed through out all of Ueno Park, making all of the birds fly from the trees, everyone who was traversing through the streets stop to listen to the scream, and several glass windows suddenly got several cracks in them. (KLP: 0)

Back at the temple area, all of the holograms began to disappear, all the while Katakana sat on the ground covered with a green ooze that made his suit, coat and hat match his green hair. "…"

"Well, there we go," Naga sighed, trying to stifle a snicker of his. "I hope that helped with your… Ego improvement."

With the holographic slime disappearing, Katakana jumped back to his feet and dusted his clothes off a few times. "Yeah, whatever…"

"Is this the point where you give me the clichéd revenge speech?" Naga questioned as he pocketed his deck of cards. "Cause frankly, that's as bad as the religious speeches."

"Please, I'm trying to get away from clichés," Katakana sighed loudly with a wave of the hand. "Heck, most of the Ophidian race is a living cliché; they tried to take over the world by flooding the world, and then by using the powers of darkness! What's next?"

"I dunno," Naga replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "… Rock n' Roll maybe?"

"It certainly make life more interesting if it was," Katakana grumbled as he walked past Naga, stopping as he was standing shoulder to shoulder with the other snake-blooded man. "… But, I will say this, our paths will cross again. With you being a Shadowchaser and me being a man to bring pride to the Ophidia, that's a fate that neither of us can run from."

"Katakana, you don't have to do this," Naga stated. "You managed to escape from the Ophidia's religious tyranny, you don't have to do anything."

"… I may hate the religion," Katakana replied as he continued walking away. "But I still love my people. As long as we're oppressed by ourselves, or by the will of another tyrant, I won't stop. You have your way, and I have mine."

"… Good luck then I suppose," Naga sighed loudly.

"I don't need the luck from some traitorous scum," Katakana scoffed as he slowly cut through the police line tape and walked through Ueno Park.

TTTTTT

After leaving the temple area…

Taking a moment to enjoy the scenery, Naga tilted back his head and closed his eyes letting the smell of the cherry blossoms and the sound of the wind rustling through the trees surround him.

Then he paused peeking an eye open as he saw a middle aged woman with her daughter standing a few feet away also admiring the temple. The little girl, likely no older then seven or eight peeked around her mother and noticed Naga before smiling and waving her little hand.

Naga blinked at this before he sheepishly returned the gesture giving a smile of his own, which unfortunately showed off more then a few of his gleaming fangs.

The little girl seemed to freeze in place at this, the smile on her face locking into place like a mask her eyes tripling in size as she suddenly tugged on her mother's sleeves. "Momma, I think I gotsta go potty."

The little girl all but dragged her mother away leaving Naga standing there his head hanging low in defeat. "One step forward, two steps back..."

TBC

**TTTTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

Goblin Dragon  
>Type: DragonEarth/Effect  
>LV: 8<br>Attack/Defense: 3000/3000  
>Effect: When you draw a card outside of your draw phase, increase this card's ATK by 500 for each card drawn. When you discard cards from your hand, this card loses ATK for each card discarded.<p>

IMAGE: A massive green dragon in a cave, surrounded by gold and pots of greed, jars of greed and pots of duality.

Cosmic Emperor Gilgameth  
>Type: ReptileDark/Effect/Synchro  
>LV: 10<br>Attack/Defense: 3000/3000  
>Effect: [1 Alien Tuner Monster + 1 or more non-tuner monsters] This card can be Synchro summoned using face up monsters your opponent controls with 'A Counters' attached to them, this card cannot attack the turn it is summoned this way. Once per turn by removing a number of 'A Counters' from the field you can special summon a one 'Alien' monster or 'Cosmic Horror Gangial' from your hand, deck or graveyard whose level is equal to the number of counters removed. Each time this card destroys an opponent's monster in battle, you may place a number of 'A Counters' on this card equal to the level of the destroyed monster.<p>

IMAGE: An interior shot of a chamber similar to the design of 'Code A Ancient Ruins' dominated by a massive life support system with a glass tube the size of a building connecting cieling and floor. Within the murky fluid is a hulking black outline of an inhuman shape with dozens of lidless red eyes and tentacles.

Creator: Max

Gold Lined Shield  
>Type: Trap<br>Effect: Activate only when you have 6 or more cards in your hand. Monsters on your side of the field cannot be destroyed this turn.  
>Image: Goblin of Greed Cackling as he holds up a massive golden shield with the Pot of Greed face on it.<br>Creator: Michael.

Alien's Illness  
>Type: SpellQuickplay  
>Effect: Activate only when you control a face up "Alien" monster. Select one card on the field and place an A-Counter on it.<p>

Image: Alien Warrior laying on a battle field as an A-Counter bursts from his chest.

Avatar of Generosity

Type: Rock/Light/Effect

Attack/Defense: 1300/1200

Image: Avatar of the pot, but with his head as the Pot of Generosity

Effect: During your opponents Draw Phase, they draw 1 card. For each card in your opponent's hand: Gain 200 Life Points during your Main Phase.

TTTTTT

**There are those who curse their heritage, and those who embrace it be it for love, power or pride. **

**But with power comes responsibility, and tonight a Shadowchaser with the blood of a seaborn Shadowkind flowing in his veins must use his wits and skills to stop a far less benign denizen of the deep. **

**But even if victory is attained and an innocent life is saved, a far greater conspiracy may be about to unfold in the darkness...**

**Next time**

**Chapter 3**

**Relaxed Through the Tension!**


	3. Relaxed Through the Tension!

_Greetings, true believers, how are you all? Metal Overlord 2.0 here, bringing you the next chapter in the collaborative project known as 'Shadowchasers: Journey to the Future'. It's been a pleasure working with not one, but two of my favorite authors and closest friends on this site, and I'm sure that delight will show through my own contributions to this story._

_A quick note before we begin: the Shadow who serves as this story's villain, and the beings associated with her, are largely inspired by their depiction in the popular fantasy/mystery book series 'The Dresden Files' by Jim Butcher. As such most of the credit belongs to him._

_Its worth noting that the inspiration for the Skinwalker in 'City of Angels' also stemmed from this source, so anyone who wishes to explore creatures of fantasy and lore to a far greater degree then the original Urban Arcana canon can provide will find a wealth of both ideas and top quality story telling to enjoy. Okay introduction's over, lets begin! _

_Elsewhere, Time Unknown._

"Bah! It sickens me what a woman like myself must do to further the cause of this wild goose chase."

Through the halls walked down a figure, mumbling to herself, his eyes bright red and staring down at the ground in abject disgust, her hands clenching and unclenching in a fit of anger, resisting and almost failing to keep from punching the wall.

"Yes, I'm quite sure you're annoyed with this, my dear." The girl looked over her shoulder and glared at the figure that seemed to appear from seemingly nowhere, the very same figure seen earlier, speaking to the man who spoke of birthdays as if it were the end of existence. "I'm sure you cannot wait until this all pays off."

"If it pays off." The girl huffed again. "I'm beginning to think this is all for naught. Whose to say this isn't some kind of fairy tale story trained to keep people busy?"

"I humbly disagree. The evidence points to otherwise, not to mention your VERY generous work on the battlefield, my dear. On the next days' eve, the world shall crumble under our might and once and for all, and it will be all of our doing."

The girl scowled and nodded. "If we have that much time before it happens, then I'm going to go entertain myself."

Before the man had a chance to say another word, 9 amazingly gorgeous fox tails erupted from her back and, transforming before his very eyes, rushed off down the hall.

_Tokyo: 11:30 PM_

By the time Naga had made his way back to the headquarters for the Shadowchaser's Tokyo branch the sun started to set. Coming up the stairs and unlocking the door he was greeted by the sight of Aurum doing her evening workout. Having slipped into a tightly wrapped martial arts gi, she was unloading a swift combo of kicks and punches upon the battered sandbag that hung in the corner having already begun to work up a decent sweat.

"Hey Naga, were you raised in a barn or what, hurry up and close the door already!" Aurum grunted as she whirled delivering a roundhouse kick that slammed the sandbag into the wall hard enough to shake plaster loose from the ceiling making the young man wince in sympathy for the long suffering equipment.

"Just out of curiosity Aurum, have you ever considered that there might be a connection between how often we have to replace your equipment and the way you lack anything resembling restraint in your training?" He commented closing the door behind him and making his way to his computer which he had long since made sure to be as far away from Aurum's workout area as possible.

She gave a rather un-ladylike snort unleashing a five hit combo switching between her fists and feet at regular intervals her limbs a blur. "You can't surpass your body's limitations until you know what they are in the first place Naga. If we slack off in honing our skills outside of Duel Monsters well be that much more out of our element when we find ourselves in situations a card game can't solve."

"Yeah, except considering you've reached the point where you're able to beat the living crap out of shadows even Jalal's elite steer clear of, your work ethic is starting to redefine the meaning of 'overkill'. At this rate people are going to be more afraid of you then any monster in your deck."

Naga powered up his computer before he stopped in the middle of bringing up a file a sweat drop rolling down the side of his head. "…Did that come out as hypocritical as I think it did?"

"Considering you run the only Reptile archetype that could compete with the Worms in the title for most likely to leave someone emotionally scarred? Maybe just a little." Aurum said taking a break and taking a deep pull from a water bottle rolling her shoulders to get the kinks out of them.

"Speaking of emotionally scarred, didn't I hear something about a Gyuki going on a rampage at that bar you like going to on weekends? From what you told me the guy seemed to be pretty strung out by the time the duel was over."

Aurum frowned as she sat down on an old second hand couch. "Strung out was an understatement. One minute he acted like he was having the Four Clans equivalent to a Vietnam flashback, the next he was screaming about something crawling all over his skin. I'm not exactly a booze hound myself, but I've had enough of that place's sake to know it couldn't have put someone in _that _bad a shape."

"Well you might be interested to know Jalal sent us the diagnostic from Gyuki's check up following his arrest and get this: not only was his blood alcohol content through the roof there was something else, take a look." He pulled up the file and turned the monitor towards Aurum so she could get a look.

"What the…this says they found traces of some kind of biological toxin in his bloodstream?" She asked her eyebrows blending into her hairline.

"Not just one kind either. The medics did some detective work and isolated the venom of several species of poisonous millipede, each species originating in everywhere from South American jungles to African rain forests."

"But he was fine when I got there. I mean, sure his voice had more then a little bit of a slur to it, and he was definitely hallucinating. But he could still act coherent enough to realize his only chance in getting out of that bar aside from through a gem stone was to duel."

"The rate the poisons were working their way through his body probably sped up as the adrenaline started to flow, first during your little skirmish and then as the duel progressed. Gyuki was lucky you were able to beat him as quickly as you did, any longer and the combination of those poisons with all the sake he had been drinking could have killed him."

"Huh, so you're saying my kicking his ass up and down that bar actually ended up saving his life?" Aurum asked pulling off the hair band that had been keeping her hair out of her eyes and gave her head a quick shake letting it all tumble back down around her shoulders. "That's a first."

"Well in any case, Jalal's medical team was able to administer the proper antidotes before Gyuki's condition could get any worse. He's in for a rough couple of days until the poison leaves his system entirely but he should be okay." Naga explained closing the link and pulling up another file.

"Glad to hear it, Gyuki might have been an asshole but he wasn't much worse then any other crook we've dealt with, I'd feel pretty guilty if anything had happened to him," Aurum said taking another swig from her water bottle.

Naga nodded before something else occurred to him making him swivel around in his chair. "Say you haven't heard from Ao have you? Normally he'd be back by now but I haven't seen him since this morning and he hasn't returned any of my calls."

"Actually he found a connection between Ueno Park where you and Katakana knocked heads this afternoon and another case he's been looking into. You're aware of a number of families in the area reporting cases of missing children right?"

Naga frowned before nodding "Yeah, twelve kids missing since the month started last I heard, and we still don't know who or what's behind it. The suspects range from your run of the mill kidnapper to a paid mercenary like the Stork, though if it's the latter he's gotten a lot sloppier in his methods."

"Well regardless of what's been snatching these children, Ao did a little digging and found that every home that's been hit so far has been within walking distance of the park, specifically the Shinobazu Pond."

Naga cringed at this. "So somebody might be using Ao's favorite fishing spot as a base for child abduction? No wonder he hasn't come home yet, he'll be there all night if that's what it takes to catch this guy."

"Tell me about it, you'd think the local criminals would have learned by now that the two best ways to piss Ao off is to either mess with his fishing, or go after kids. But mix the two together?" Aurum snorted and tossed the empty bottle into a trash can. "Our kidnapper just stepped into one deep pile of shit."

_Shinobazu Pond; 11:59 PM_

South of where Naga dueled Katakana earlier in the day, the tranquil Shinobazu Pond was divided into three smaller bodies of water by a series of promenades. Along with these micro ponds, known as the Boat, Lotus and Cormorant Pond respectively, there was the Benten Island in the center, upon which was sat a shrine dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten.

On the western bank of the Lotus Pond a little boy, no older then ten, shuffled slowly towards the water's edge, his pajama bottoms dirty from the long walk that had presumably taken him from his bed in the middle of the night. His light chocolate colored eyes were glazed and unfocused as he plodded along as though lost in a deep trance.

The source of the strange behavior was a haunting melody, beautiful beyond words but somehow disturbing in its alien syllables, which seemed to emanate from somewhere deep within the water reaching out and drawing the little boy in like a moth to a flame.

The surface of the pond began to glow with a low emerald shine which quickly grew in intensity before the water seemed to flow upwards in graceful spirals before coming together entwining like the strands of a piece of DNA.

The water slowly began to sculpt itself into the shape of a woman possessing the kind of beauty that wars are waged and siblings are murdered in the pursuit of. Shimmering translucent water was replaced by a figure of flawless pale flesh as well defined as the curves of a wineglass, poured into a gown of shimmering jade silk.

Her delicate heart shaped was face framed by long luscious locks of emerald green hair, the same color of her eyes, only the pointing of her ears and the cat like slits of her eyes betraying her true nature as something not quite human.

The woman glided over the surface of the pond that ethereal melody still pouring forth from her luscious lips, her hands stretching out as though to embrace the child as the little boy began to wade into the water, oblivious to the numbing frigid cold. Her arms stretched out as if to embrace the child…

…When before her very eyes, the child was no longer a child at all anymore, but someone else entirely. He grew to twice the size of the child he had been pretending to be moments ago, standing at a near 6 feet tall. His skin was tan, his eyes were dark, dark, almost impossibly dark brown, and his hair was short and black, almost border lining on azure. He wore nothing more than a vest over his otherwise muscular chest and a pair of jeans that were torn at the knee. In his hands was a net, shining a little bit in the pale moonlight, glistening more than a net had the right to.

"Got you." The man exclaimed and threw the net over the woman, causing her gasp and back peddle in surprise before the net made it over her body and force her to her knees. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be lined iron, trying to rise up. She never got a chance to as the man grabbed the net and pulled it, causing her to be entirely trapped inside of it, despite her struggling. "My name is Ao of the Tokyo Shadowchasers, and you are under arrest for the suspicion of kidnapping 12 children."

The woman let loose an ear piercing shriek, angry that such a mortal could catch her, HER! Her eyes flashing red, completely destroying the image of such a beauty moments before, her form liquidated before his very eyes and sank through the holes in the net, causing it to slack. The one named Ao was afraid of that, frowning as he dropped the now useless net, looking around slowly for the horrible creature.

He didn't need to look for much longer before a soft splashing was heard behind him. He wasn't fast enough, however, as he turned around he was suddenly encompassed by a massive ball of water that had formed around him, sitting there and looked around. He tried to pushed through the water, but the woman on the other side was holding her hands above, an evil smirk etched on her otherwise pretty face.

"Did you think I would go without a fight, mortal?" She asked the man as he continued to struggle, causing her to laugh, "Now you can sit here, knowing you failed to not only save the children, but your own life as well." She giggled and began to circle the orb of water, still holding it up with her powers as she watched in glee the man slowly stop struggling. "The Sidhe have never been captured thus far by such a pathetic attempt, but I will admit, that trick you pulled was quite a surprise for me as well, I will give you that, ape."

She stood to the side as the form in the water cocoon eventually stopped struggling, smirking a little bit. "It's a shame I cannot sacrifice you with the children, since you are likely with sin. The children, on the other hand…well, I do not pity them however." She moved to the front to see the frozen expression of fear on his face…

Much to her shock and surprise, Ao was not only still alive, but he was conscious and looked…annoyed? He tapped on his wrist, as if asking how much longer this would take. He didn't even look like he was struggling to breath.

Surprise, she released him from his cocoon, watching as he fell into a puddle with a surprised gasp. "How?" She asked the human. "How are you still alive? No human should be able to survive being in there for so long, especially when they had barely no time to breath!"

"Well, that's one of my little secrets." He said with a little smirk, brushing his wet hair form his face, looking up at her. "You could say water is my element personally, I can hold my breath for far longer than a normal person should. Why can I do that?" He picked himself up and shook his hair free of the water. "Well, that's my own little secret."

The Sidhe hissed in anger, her eyes flashing green again. Now that Ao was free of the water, his vision no longer obstructed, he saw her teeth were not only razor sharp, but coated in a green film almost like algae. He felt his stomach churn at the mere sight, while the Sidhe worked the gears in her head.

Ao arched a brow at this. "Hmmm, a member of the Sidhe with green fangs who works near bodies of water and specializes in kidnapping children. You're a long way from England, Jenny Green-teeth."

Jenny's enraged expression froze at this, her eyes returning to their normal feline slits as she eyed him warily. "Odd that a native of Japan would be familiar with my title."

"Not nearly as odd as it is to see a noble of the unseelie course partaking in child abduction; or you didn't get the memo that went out once the tooth fairies went into business. Amazing what you can accomplish when you don't approach things from the angle of a sociopath." Ao stated calmly.

"Feh!" Jenny turned her head with a derisive sniff. "I have seen too many of my kind soften in supplication to the demands of your Treaty, Shadowchaser. Stormbringer would have us coddle mortals whose lives we have had free reign to command since before his kind even existed."

"Uh-Huh, and does the Queen of Air and Darkness feel the same way? Because if you are being supported by her in this little pet project I'd think you'd have a little more firepower to throw my way than a simple drowning spell."

The comment seemed to strike a nerve in the Sidhe, her eyes flashing with uncontrollable anger. "The queen…did not share my sentiments, my actions are a service to another. But regardless of whom I seek to deliver those children to, I will not allow you to stand in my way."

"We're wasting our time here," Ao said, crossing his arms. "You can escape any attempts to capture you, and try as you might, you don't have enough magic to attempt to drown me, as stated. So…"

"If you're suggesting a duel, Shadowchaser…" She said, when an idea popped into her mind, the metaphysical lightbulb lighting itself above her head as a sly smirk crossed her lips. "Then I agree."

Ao blinked in surprised. He'd never seen someone so willingly agree to a duel, when their eyes were literally green.

"We shall duel under your silly treaties bylaws. If I win, then I may continue on my way, and the children remain with me. Should you win, I'll not only give you the children back, but I'll go quietly."

Ao stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out her game before he pulled on his Duel Disk. He couldn't say no, he needed to save those kids, under any circumstance. He threw his duel disk onto his wrist and snapped it into position.

_He'll never win. _The Sidhe thought to herself as she brought her wrist up to her chest and gestured. The water from the pond below began to flow up, as if it we re living and surrounded her wrist like a thick see through gauntlet. It stretched out and molded itself into the blade of a duel disk, the monster card zones punctuated by red dots. _Not with this deck. Or for that matter, what's lurking in it…_

Both duelists cried out in a duel and while Ao drew his opening hand, there was a familiar tightening in his chest, as if something were gripping him from the inside. He knew that feeling anywhere, and looked up to glare at her.

_No wonder she was so willing to duel me…_ He thought to himself as he took a deep breath. _If she wins…well, Shadow Duels aren't exactly a surviving factor for the opponent, that's for sure…_

_All I know is…this is going to hurt…_

JENNY: 8000 LP AO: 8000 LP

"I believe the custom of chivalry remains largely intact in regards to this game," Jenny said fanning out all six cards in her hand before quickly taking three of them and placing them upon her disk. "So for now I will be content with one monster concealed and another card facedown." The image of the two brown backed cards emerged before her. "Make your move."

'_No surprises so far," _Ao thought drawing a card and looking over what he had to work with. _'But that doesn't mean I'm not in for a fight, the Sidhe are legendary for their craftiness, so I better test the waters and see what I'm up against.' _

"I'll start with a spell card I'm sure you'll recognize, the mighty Umi!" The water level of the Lotus Pond began to rapidly rise as Ao played the field spell that had been one of Mako Tsunami's trademark cards until both the fisherman was submerged up to his knees.

Jenny however, seemed to float gracefully above the surface of the water, arching a delicate eyebrow as she regarded their change in surroundings. "A practitioner of the Sea Stealth Style I presume? You realize you have all but advertised your overall strategy with a single card."

Ao gave a slight smirk for the first time that night. "You can make as many presumptions as you want, but I can't promise there wont be consequences should they turn out to be wrong. I summon Spearfish Soldier."

The water churned before a humanoid blue skinned creature rose up swinging a lance made from purple sea shells in each hand its nose stretched to a point like that of a sword fish as it gave the Sidhe a fierce glare (1700/1100-1900/1300).

"Spearfish Soldier, attack her facedown card!" With a flick of its wrists, the monster began to twirl each of its lances until they were little more then a purple blur before lunging forward and driving them both into the hidden monster, the impaled remains of a strange x-shaped band of blue slime appearing before it burst into goblets of, well, slime.

Recognizing the monster the fisherman brought up his arm just in time to keep a glob of the stuff from splashing onto his face, hissing through clenched teeth as his skin blistered on contact. "Acid Slime…not a bad way to draw first blood without lowering your defenses I'll give you that much." Ao growled tearing the last of the burning sludge from his arm and rubbing it.

Jenny gave a tender smile that failed to match the malice in her eyes. "Oh blood will be drawn Shadowchaser, I promise you that much. And since my Acid Slime's defense was higher then its attack score, my facedown Broken Blocker allows me to special summon two more from my deck."

Sure enough two identical x-shaped bands of blue slime appeared on her side of the field rising and falling with the movements of the pond as they drew a small boost from Umi (800/1000-1000/1200X2).

"Looks like I'm not the only one with a taste for aquatic monsters," Ao remarked before taking another card from his hand and setting it behind his monsters on the field. "All right then, well see whose skill in using them is greater. For now I'll set a card facedown and end my turn." Ao said quickly placing a card on his disk its image appearing behind his Spearfish Soldier.

JENNY: 8000 LP AO: 7200 LP

Jenny threw back her head and gave a laugh that was somehow both ominous and inviting as she drew. "What confidence you have in your mermaid heritage Shadowchaser! But the duel has only just begun, and you have no idea how great the gap between our abilities truly is."

"For now however, I will simply set another monster facedown along with a facedown of my own. After that my turn shall be complete," She quickly repeated her previous turn's actions her hand shrinking to two cards before she gave a slight mocking bow. "Let us hope this turn does not end as poorly for you."

Ao snapped a card off the top of his deck ignoring the remark before he looked over the field. _'Taking out those Acid Slimes are going to cost me some life points, but better I clear her field of monsters now then leave her with enough materials for either a Synchro or high level tribute summon.'_

"First I play Spell-book Inside the Pot, and just humor me and spare the smug double edged gratitude will you?" He snapped as they both drew three cards from their decks giving Jenny five cards and Ao six.

The Sidhe shrugged and said nothing, instead noticing a card she had just drawn a dark gleam in her cat like eyes. _'Little does he realize any gratitude I might have given him would be genuine, given that he's just allowed me to draw the backbone of my strategy.'_

"I summon Big Jaws in attack mode!" As he placed the monster on his duel disk a pair of fins, one normal and the other made of serrated steel, broke the surface of the pond before the rest of the monster rose up. It was a shark, but one with an enormous pair of steel jaws welded into place full of hooked metal fangs. It gnashed its teeth with a sound like someone shaking a drawer full of knives (1800/300-2000/500).

"Then I play Tribute to the Doomed. This lets me destroy one of your Acid Slimes outside of battle, and therefore avoiding its burn effect!" Ao discarded a monster to his discard pile as a flurry of bandages wrapped around one of the slimes and dragged it underwater.

"Spearfish Soldier, destroy her last Acid Slime!" The fisherman said throwing his hand forward. Once more the soldier lunged forward skewering the x shaped slime, and even as more of it struck, this time catching Ao on the side of his leg he blocked out the pain giving another command.

"Big Jaws, your up next, attack her facedown!" Rather then a direct attack, the iron toothed predator dove beneath the surface of the water, only to explode up from beneath Jenny's monster and hitting it with the momentum of a small bus.

The card shattered and was replaced by a sickly looking green monster with two legs and a lumpy head devoid of eyes and covered by thick bulging blue veins. It had just enough time to give a wail of agony before Big Jaws' teeth closed around its body like a car compactor and reducing it to pulped greenish colored gore.

Unperturbed by the savage display Jenny swept the slain monster into her graveyard before pulling out her deck and fanning it out in front of her, all in one fluid movement. "That was my Skreech, when destroyed in battle it allows me to send two Water monsters from my deck to the graveyard."

But no sooner did she discard the aforementioned monsters then two more cards popped out of her deck. "In case you're wondering the monsters I just discarded were two copies of a personal favorite of mine known as Draw Slime. When this card is sent to the graveyard for any reason or from any location I gain an extra card."

'_I think I'm starting to get a feel for how her deck works,' _Ao thought watching her add the two additional cards to her hand giving her a total of eight cards. _'Slime monsters revolve around sending themselves to the graveyard in different ways to activate their effects, and it looks like Jenny's focusing on ones with low enough attack scores to be easily recycled and searched for to promote stronger card synergy.'_

'_But outside of Acid Slime and Last Machine Acid Virus the archetype has almost no offensive power on its own given that its members only go up to fifteen hundred points in attack strength. So what is she building up to with trashing so many of her own cards?' _

"I would advise focusing on the here and now boy, I would hardly think this would be the time for daydreaming in your position." Jenny remarked idly tapping her foot on the surface of the pond as though they were standing on solid ground, the motion sending tiny ripples over the water.

Ao frowned at this. "You'll forgive me if I take my time in a duel with this much at stake. I'll move ahead to my second main phase, and since my Big Jaws attacked it now removes itself from play," He explained as the shark glowed and vanished.

Jenny arched a delicate brow at this. "That strikes me as a drawback disproportionate to the advantage of such a powerful level three monster, in what way does this benefit you?"

Ao grinned as Spearfish Soldier's attack score suddenly increased slightly (1900-2000/1300). "Well first of all, my Spearfish Soldier gains a hundred attack points for every Fish, Sea Serpent and Aqua Type that's banished."

"Second, since one of them was just banished while face up on the field, my Evil Spawning Riverbed allows me to add one level four or lower monster from one of the aforementioned types to my hand." He quickly selected a strange looking monster from his deck and shuffled it before adding it to his hand giving him four cards remaining. "I think that's enough for now."

Jenny gave him an odd look as she drew a ninth card. "No facedown cards for protection? Don't tell me that you would lower your guard this much after only a few exchanges." She asked. Ao's only reaction was to give her a stony glare.

The Sidhe merely shrugged. "Very well, no sense in attempting to change the natural flaws of human judgment, at least not when I can capitalize upon them with one of the rarest cards in Duel Monsters, my Deep Sea Fusion!"

As she played the odd looking spell card, whose image depicted the creatures from Polymerization being drawn into a maelstrom, a surge of strange power coursed through the park sending increasingly large waves rippling out from around where Jenny stood.

Two monsters, Humanoid Slime (800/2000) and Beast King of the Swamps (1100/1200) briefly appeared in front of Jenny before they dove deep into the depths of the lake as the waters began to churn and froth like a witch's cauldron.

As Ao watched a small forest of large viscous tentacles, seeming to be made of clear blue plasma, surged up from the water before twisting into a vaguely draconian shape. Lacking a true 'face' to speak of it's beak like mandibles flexed around a pulsing green orb, one prehensile arm ending in a gelatinous sickle while a pair of wing like folds protruded from its back.

"Humanoid Worm Drake, now there's a card I haven't seen in a while," Ao blinked before narrowing his eyes in suspicion as the fusion monster's stats began to rise to abnormal levels (2200/2000-4000/3800). "Considering Umi only grants a two hundred point stat bonus to Aqua types I'm guessing this has something to do with your fusion spell."

Jenny gave the fisherman a patronizing smile. "Would Deep Sea Fusion be so coveted a card were it merely a carbon copy of the common Polymerization? As long as it rests within my graveyard, for each Water attribute monster I have discarded every Water Fusion monster I control gains two hundred additional attack and defense points."

"Humanoid Worm Drake, destroy Spearfish Soldier with Slime Guillotine!" The Sidhe commanded, the drake giving a warbling howl before lunging across the field swinging its sickle arm in a wide curving arc…

Only to draw back with a cry as a long writhing shape burst out of the water and wrapped itself around the gelatinous beast, constricting it beneath several feet of bleached while scales covered in frilled fins.

The strange looking fish, whose head was flat vaguely resembling that of a shark, tightened its grip before the Drake collapsed its attack score taking a hit while at the same time Spearfish Soldiers' attack increased once more (4000-3500/3800) (2000-2100/1300).

"Sorry, but your Humanoid Worm Drake will have to wait before it can take a crack at my life points thanks to Killer Frilled Shark. When a face up Aqua, Sea Serpent, or Fish monster I control is attacked, I can remove it from my graveyard to negate the attack and weaken the attacking monster by five hundred points until my next end phase."

Jenny tilted her head to one side at this. "I had heard rumors of duelists who used such a strategy to combine oceanic monsters with the banished zone, but had yet to see one in person," She said before she gave a seductive smile. "Perhaps I won't simply feed you to my familiars after all, I have not taken a mermaid lover in quite some time, and you could prove to be a rather, amusing plaything." She purred.

Ao's face reddened slightly before he shook his head with a curse and spat to one side. "Sorry sister, but I'd sooner become the droppings of some monster then spend the rest of my life as your sex slave. I could never touch a woman who sees children as bargaining chips no matter how beautiful."

The Sidhe's grin turned slightly more sinister at this. "Oh give me time Shadowchaser, and it won't matter whether you agree with my methods or not. But for now the duel must continue, I set two cards facedown and end my turn." She said the move still leaving her with a modest four cards left in her hand.

Ao drew his next card muttering something about how when it came to attractive women in his life they were usually either a lesbian, married or a psychotic fairy. When he saw what he had drawn his expression brightened slightly.

"Looks like its time for one of my favorite tricks, I'll begin by summoning Pot Crab in attack mode," Compared to the last two monsters Ao had summoned, this one seemed to prefer a far less flashy entrance. With a tinny squeak a Hermit Crab wearing a cracked battered Pot of Greed as a shell came crawling up Ao's leg and arm before it perched on his shoulder idly clicking its pincers (600/600-800/800).

"It might not look like much, but Pot Crab has inherited enough magic from the original Pot of Greed to duplicate its ability to draw cards. However I can only use it in one of two ways each turn, so for now I choose the effect where I draw a card if it's removed from play. And wouldn't you know it, this next monster can be special summoned by doing just that, so say hello to Tsunagi!" Ao said the Pot Crab vanishing as the entire pond began to tremble.

With a deep hissing bellow, a column of green streaked black rubbery flesh the size of a subway train burst up from the Lotus Pond, fins the size of ship sails snapping open and swaying through the air keeping the serpentine beast adrift as it coiled through the sky above their heads. It was a colossal eel with a pair of long whip like tendrils on either side of its snout resembling, of all things, a wispy mandarin mustache (2800/2600-3000/2800).

Seeing something resembling unease in the Sidhe's eyes Ao gave a small smirk as he reached for a spell card in his hand. _'I know Aurum said she'd break my legs if I made this joke again, but what the hell, it'll be worth it to wipe that smug look off of Jenny's face.' _"Oh Jenny," The fisherman called out over the roar of Tsunagi. "Tell me something, you like fish and chips?"

The blank stare Jenny gave him suggested either she was not a fan of British cuisine or simply had no idea what he was talking about.

"Well I don't know about you, but I've been more of a fan of fish and _kicks _myself!" He shouted thrusting a spell card forward. What happened next was almost comical; a flood of 7 Colored Fish began pouring out of the spell card in a wave of multicolored shimmering scales hitting the Humanoid Worm Drake like a freight train.

The Sidhe watched as the fusion slime thrashed in a futile attempt to fend off the living avalanche of fish before it was pulled into the pond before she finally blinked. "What in winter's howl was _that_?"

"I told you, its Fish and Kicks, a spell card that removes any card on the field from play that I choose, however in order to use it I needed to have banished at least three of my own monsters, each of which had to have been either Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua."

"Which brings me to something I neglected to mention before; namely how Tsunagi serves as my deck's version of the Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. However instead of being able to bring monsters back from the graveyard, it allows me to special summon monsters from either my hand or from the banished pile once per turn."

"In other words you mean to bring back your Pot Crab so you can use its effect next turn." Jenny said having recovered from her initial surprise the wheels clearly spinning as she planned out her next course of action.

The smile on Ao's face turned slightly more feral. "You seem to have misunderstood me, I said _the _removed from play pile, not _my _remove from play pile…" Above him Tsunagi lowered its head its eyes glowing pale silver as a rift opened up on the fisherman's side of the field as a very familiar fusion monster appeared now brandishing its sickle at its former mistress (2200-2400/2200).

"I told you assuming you'd know how this duel would play out would have consequences," Ao said as all three of his monsters prepared to attack the Sidhe who was now simply staring back at him with a look of eerie calm. "Well you're about to experience over seven thousand attack points worth of them. Tsunagi, Humanoid Worm Drake, Spearfish Soldier, take her down!"

The divine eel, slime beast and aquatic warrior gave earth shaking roars as they struck out, Tsunagi twisting its entire length like a massive bullwhip to strike down with its tail while Humanoid Worm Drake and Spearfish Soldier came from either side with a savage swing of their respective weapons.

Jenny rolled her eyes before lifting up one pale open palmed hand murmuring a few syllables in an eldritch tongue pressing a button on her duel disk with the other. An aurora of cold radiant light poured from her hand before it abruptly expanded with a flex of her fingers just as the attacks connected.

The kinetic energy behind Ao's monsters as they attacked seemed to suddenly turn against them in an invisible backlash with a thunderous crash, the Drake, eel and soldier sent reeling through the air before landing hard in a series of splashes that left Ao soaked from head to toe.

There was a moment's pause as Ao stood there his drenched bangs hiding his eyes water coursing down him in small rivulets before he gave a deep growl and shook himself like a dog. Thankfully Kaiba Corp prided itself on safety measures for its duel disks that bordered on the paranoid, the waterproof card sleeves and airtight seals leaving the fisherman's equipment dry as a bone.

Jenny gave a rich throaty laugh as she brushed some of her hair that had come loose during the spell, the only sign that she had even felt any of those attacks. "Did you really think it would be that easy to strike me down Shadowchaser? I've participated in more Shadow Games in service to the Unseelie then have been recorded in the history of this entire continent. You could strike me with an Egyptian God Card and I would have barely felt so much as a sting."

"That still doesn't explain what happened in terms of the game itself. Even if you could shrug off that kind of damage in a Shadow Game you'd still have to…" Ao began before he paused only just noticing all three of Jenny's facedown cards were now active his eyes widening in realization.

"So that's what happened. You took the first hit from Tsunagi to make your life points low enough to double with Hyper Refresh, and then played Waboku to prevent yourself from losing any of the padding you just gained."

"A potent enough combo on its own, but made even more so now that the damage has subsided; I activate Shock Draw, granting me an additional draw for every thousand points of damage I just took." She said quickly snapping the top three cards from her deck, and just like that her hand was at full size once more.

Ao muttered a curse and took two cards from his hand leaving him with only one card remaining. "Two cards facedown, that's about the only other thing I can do for now so go ahead and make your move."

JENNY: 10,000 LP AO: 6400 LP

"Indeed it is," The Sidhe conceded drawing a card. "Well Shadowchaser I won't say this hasn't been entertaining, but those children won't deliver themselves and my benefactor will be quite eager to make use of them. So alas the time for toying with you is over."

Ao barked out a laugh to try and hide how nervous this comment made him. "Wait let me guess; this is the part where you tell me you've been holding back up until now as a matter of pride and now you're going to go all out. If I had a Yen for every time I heard that one."

"Precisely the case," Jenny said her tone disturbingly serious. "I withheld my full power to see if you might prove yourself worth the effort to enslave, and you have done so admirably. Now there is no reason for me not to end this duel, and kill you." She paused before making a show of rubbing her chin.

"Oh wait, allow me to rephrase that," She said before the Sidhe gave Ao a smile with all the warmth of a glacier. "What I meant to say was; there is no reason not to end this duel, bring you as physically close to death as possible to emphasize the mistake of meddling in my affairs, and then slowly nurse you back to health as my ideal pet."

Ao shuddered at this, not because of a faltering in his resolve, but simply because he knew better then to assume Jenny was bluffing. A Sidhe was bound by their word in ways no law drafted by mortals or Shadowchasers could ever accomplish. If Jenny said she was going to make him into one of her slaves, it was as certain and undeniable a threat as staring into the barrel of a loaded gun.

"Now then, I'll begin by playing a combination of the spell cards Salvage and Excavation of Magic Stone. I'll use the first card to retrieve my two Draw Slimes, and discard them yet again to retrieve the Deep Sea Fusion in my graveyard." Jenny's hands were a blur as she began swapping out one set of cards for another even as Draw Slime's effect provided an additional two cards leaving her with a net gain of one.

"Now I call upon its power once more to combine the Polymer-Slime and Revival Jam in my hand to summon a beast far more powerful then Humanoid Worm Drake!" She laughed as the spell card appeared once more her hair blowing back from the energy waves coursing off of it.

Two monsters, the aforementioned Revival Jam (1500/500) and a monster Ao didn't recognize resembling an amoeba colored with the swirls of Polymerization (500/500), were drawn into the whirlpool that opened up in front of Jenny's field. From the depths came a strange moist rattling hiss before a squat bloated shape hopped up landing in front of the Sidhe with a crash.

While your textbook chimera was depicted as combining the aspects of a goat, eagle, lion and snake, this was a slimy beast with the body of a bullfrog, the wings of a bat, and the head and tail of a catfish with an alligator's head attached as well. The creature dropped to all four webbed paws and gave another set of rattling hisses from each head (2400/1200-2600/1400).

"Meet Chimera Slime, adorable isn't he? But I have far more in store for you Shadowchaser. My Polymer-Slime doesn't just act as a substitute for the fusion summon of a Water monster, when its sent to the graveyard in any way I can take another card with 'Fusion' or 'Polymerization' from my deck and add it to my hand."

"Then I play Mind Control to regain control of the Humanoid Worm Drake you stole from me," As she played the spell card the fusion slime's body jerked its gelatinous flesh quivering as though resonating with some unseen command before slithering back to its original master alongside the Chimera Slime.

"While Mind Control's effect bars me from using my Drake to either attack or be used for a tribute summon, it can still fit my needs perfectly as my next Fusion monster can be created combining any 'Slime' monster with an additional Water monster. So I play my second Deep Sea Fusion to combine my Humanoid Worm Drake with my last copy of Draw Slime to summon Sorcerer Slime!"

For the third time so far in the duel, the great maelstrom appeared in the middle of the pond as both of Jenny's monsters vanished into the depths, even as Draw Slime's demise increased Jenny's hand to four cards in total. This time the monster that emerged was considerably smaller and roughly humanoid in shape.

It was a pale vermillion slime creature dressed in the cloaked attire of a wizard but made from a much lighter shade of slime matching the patch atop its head in the shape of a wide brimmed hat. The creature's face was dominated by a nest of thick wriggling tendrils resembling a beard behind which a pair of shining emerald eyes peered out. The creature brandished a staff adorned with a jewel in the shape of a teardrop chanting in an eldritch tongue (2400/2000-2600/2000).

"And now for the final piece of my strategy, I resurrect Humanoid Worm Drake through the power of Monster Reborn!" There was a shriek as the fusion slime reared back up from the depths of the Lotus Pond joining its two siblings as the combined power of Umi and both Deep Sea Fusions bolstered their attack scores to nightmarish levels (2400/2200-7200/5000) (2600/1400-7400/6200) (2600/2200-7400/7000).

"Considering I would prefer to take you alive, you can understand my concern over striking you with over twenty thousand attack point's worth of damage in a single turn," Jenny purred. "But all the same, I'm reasonably confident you'll survive long enough for me to heal you. Chimera Slime, attack his-"

"Activate facedown card!" Ao shouted in a panic nearly breaking his finger as he hit a button on his duel disk. "Staunch Defender now makes it so that only one monster on my side of the field can be attacked this turn, I choose Spearfish Soldier!" The aquatic warrior leapt in front of Tsunagi crossing its lances in a defensive guard before turning its head and giving the fisherman a solemn nod which he returned.

Jenny seemed oddly pleased with this. "Well now, it looks like you've enabled me to make this a clean kill after all Shadowchaser, my thanks. Chimera Slime, destroy Spearfish Soldier with Sonic Slime Scream!"

The bulbous fusion monster inhaled deeply before its fish head emitted a blood curdling squeal caused the soldier to drop its weapons and clasp its head in pain. The sound rose in pitch until uncontrollable muscle spasms wracked the soldier's body before with one last hoarse cry it exploded in a shower of gore.

Though still in one piece himself Ao wasn't much better off. His head was pounding like an anvil and it was all he could do to simply stand upright as his sense of balance was distorted by the aftereffects of the attack. However despite this his life points were unchanged.

Opening one eye and trying to see through the pain induced haze clouding his thoughts Ao grunted jerking his head in the direction of his second facedown card. "Defense Draw…reduced the damage to zero, and lets me draw…one card, looks like…I'm safe for this round." He groaned.

The Sidhe's eyes narrowed as she bared her teeth with a hiss of annoyance. "Safe from the attacks of my Sorcerer Slime and Humanoid Worm Drake perhaps, but _not _from Chimera Slime's special ability; when it destroys a monster in battle I can remove one monster in my graveyard from play to inflict damage equal to its attack score!"

The alligator head on the fusion slime opened its mouth and gave a second, even stronger sonic attack, this time aimed directly at Ao. This time the fisherman was unable to remain standing, falling to his knees with a roar of pain his hands clasped over his head desperately trying to block out the sound, gods help him it felt like someone was trying to pull his brain out through his ears.

Eventually Chimera Slime seemed to run out of breath both heads falling silent as Jenny removed Humanoid Slime from her graveyard its absence weakening her monsters slightly (7200/5000-6800/4600) (7400/7000-7000/6400) (7400/6200-7000/5800).

"I don't know what compels you to prolong the pain you're experiencing in this duel Shadowchaser, but it's a useless gesture all the same. I need only use Slime Chimera's effect one more time and you will perish as surely on my next turn as you would have this one." Jenny said the words cold and harsh as she ended her move.

JENNY: 10,000 LP AO: 2900 LP

Ao remained on his hands and knees half submerged in the pond for some time taking deep ragged gasps of breath. His entire body was wracked with the pain that last attack had dealt him and when he pulled his hands away from his ears he found them stained in blood. Then something strange happened; a deep rumble came from the sky overhead as clouds once thin and wispy, began to swell and darken into storm clouds.

The rain came lightly at first, fleeting droplets that sent the faintest ripples across the surface of the pond before it slowly grew to a steady downpour, and then a full on torrent, the rain coming down in thick waves of sleet over both combatants. As the water came into contact with Ao's flesh it glowed softly as little by little the pain seemed to leave.

Ao blinked in confusion as he felt his strength return to his battered form before he turned his head in the direction of the shrine dedicated to Benzaiten, the goddess of wealth, music, wisdom and happiness. It could have been a trick of the light, but for just a split second he could have sworn he saw one of the eyes on Benzaiten's statue wink at him.

Drawing his next card the fisherman's eyes lit up. "A useless gesture huh? Somehow I think there might be someone out there who thinks otherwise Jenny. And that's all I need to turn this duel around! I use Tsunagi's effect to summon Pot Crab back to my field." With a squeak the hermit crab appeared taking shelter in its shell as the rain bounced off the broken pot (600/600-800/800).

"Next I summon Rainbow Koi!" There was a splash as a large Koi fish leapt out of the water, true to its name its scales were shimmering in every color of the rainbow (1200/1400-1400/1600).

"Finally I play Level Reflect, this allows me to select one monster my side of the field, and then another monster I choose has their level changed to match that of the first." A pair of mirrors appeared on Ao's side of the field, one behind Pot Crab and the second behind Tsunagi before both monsters glowed with energy as the former shrank from level eight to level two.

A less intelligent duelist would have been baffled as to what Ao hoped to gain with such an odd strategy, but Jenny had faced thousands of duelists, more then enough to realize what was soon to come. "Synchro Summon…" She murmured, not so much a question as a statement, for what else could it be?

Rainbow Koi's body suddenly glowed and split into four stars which began to whirl around Tsunagi and Pot Crab. As this happened Ao closed his eyes and began to chant in a low confident voice.

"_Between the depths of the endless sea and heights of the lofty sky, a sword is forged by the gods of this land to bring forth the wrath of the tempest! Synchro Summon, TAI FOOM BOOM!"_

There came a thunderclap great enough to shake the earth as a column of blinding light shot down from the clouds above. As both duelists watched a shape began to descend, clad in flawless samurai armor forged in lustrous gold, the kanji symbols of 'lightning' 'wind' and 'water' etched over it. The rain coursed down the helm over a face with bearing the strength and the wisdom of the ages…

…Which did nothing to distract from the fact that the being now floating serenely in the air, radiating an aura of holy energy, was a blowfish the size of a beach ball? A miniature katana hung sheathed beneath each stubby fin, and its face sported a magnificently lush snow white mustache, but it was a blowfish all the same (2000/2000-2200/2200).

Jenny stared at the monster Ao had just summoned before she lifted a hand to her mouth giving a snicker which quickly grew into wild mocking laughter. "_This _is the card that will strike me down and carry the day? Even if I were to ignore the lunacy of suggesting this…bottom feeder, is in some way a servant of the gods, its attack score doesn't even equal to a third of any of my beasts."

Ao gave an oddly relaxed smile at this even as Tai Foom Boom's eyes narrowed dangerously beneath the rim of its helmet. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't get that a lot whenever I bring this one out, but if I told you once I've told you a thousand times: I am _not _someone you want to underestimate."

"Summoning Tai Foom Boom may have only left me with one card left in my hand, but with a little luck that will be all I need to turn this duel around. Go Roll of Fate!" A large six sided die fell from the sky and started to skip across the surface of the pond like a pebble. "Here's how this one works Jenny: whatever number comes up on the dice equals the number of cards I'll get to draw." The die bounced once, twice more before it rolled to a stop on five.

"Now, here's where things get interesting," Ao said snapping the top five cards from his deck before he pulled out another five cards. "In exchange for using Roll of Fate, I have to remove a number of cards from play equal to the number of cards I just drew." He took a Cranium Fish, Flyfang, Deep Sea King Devil Shark, a second Spearfish Soldier, and a Shark Sucker and slid them into his vest pocket.

"So you've refreshed your hand, I still don't see how this makes any diff-" The words suddenly died in the Sidhe's throat as she noticed something was happening to Tai Foom Boom. The armored blowfish was beginning to inhale with a force like a vacuum, the tops of nearby trees suddenly swaying in its direction as its body inflated like a helium balloon. As it grew its armor flexed slits in the golden metal allowing layers upon layers of razor sharp metal spines to jut out in every direction.

Finally Tai Foom Boom towered over the field having gone from the size of a beach ball to a beach _house. _The katana it carried were now large enough to split grown men in half, and the ferocious glare it gave behind its mustache seemed far less amusing now that each eye was bigger then the Sidhe's head (2200/2200-4700/2200).

"I see you noticed my Synchro's first ability," Ao said a gleam in his eyes not matching the smile on his face. "Each time an Aqua, Sea Serpent or Fish type monster is removed from play, Tai Foom Boom gains five hundred attack points. And I'm just getting started!" He took two monsters from his vest, Killer Frilled Shark and Big Jaws, and slid them into his graveyard.

"By sending two of my monsters from my banished pile to the graveyard, Tai Foom Boom's second ability activates; Whirlwind Blade!" The divine blowfish reached around with its fins and drew both katana with a battle cry, their blades overflowing with radiant golden light.

Holding them out to either side Tai Foom Boom slowly began to spin in midair, the rotations picking up speed as the water churned and swirled beneath where it hovered. A waterspout slowly formed around the whirling blowfish until it seemed to climb to the heavens above. Then as both duelists watched it suddenly lurched into motion winding its way in a serpentine motion towards Jenny's monsters, whose insubstantial forms proved their undoing.

Lacking bodies solid enough to anchor themselves against the pull of the waterspout, Humanoid Worm Drake, Chimera Slime and Sorcerer Slime's bodies stretched like taffy as they were drawn into the heart of the whirlwind, only to be shredded into almost microscopic goblets of multicolored goop by the blades of Tai Foom Boom, leaving Jenny's field completely bare as the waterspout slowly died down.

"In exchange for me forfeiting Tai Foom Boom's attack for this turn, his Whirlwind Blade destroys every monster my opponent controls." Ao explained waiting for Jenny's apprehensive scowl to become replaced by a look of cautious optimism before he added. "Or rather, I _would _forfeit his attack if I didn't have a way around that little handicap."

"I play the spell card, Swift Strike!" Ao exclaimed as a card appeared showing a Samurai Warrior beheading a ninja assassin. "Since Tai Foom Boom is the only monster I have in play, I can use one of two effects; in this case, I can ignore any part of his effect that would keep him from attacking this turn! Tai Foom Boom, attack Jenny directly with Cross Blade Slash!"

One moment the blowfish was hovering in place his gaze never wavering from where Jenny stood, and the next he blurred out of sight as lightning flashed across the sky, only reappearing behind the Sidhe as thunder roared overhead in time with the Sidhe's otherworldly cry of pain as two long glowing slash marks intersected along her body drawing blood too pale to be human.

"Funny, I seem to recall you saying something about how you wouldn't even feel an attack from a God Card, yet here you knocked are flat on your face thanks to one of their envoys." Ao said taking two cards from his hand and setting them facedown. "There's something to be said for a little humility Jenny, but in any case why don't you mull it over while you take your turn?"

JENNY: 5300 LP AO: 2900 LP

Jenny was a bit of a mess at this point; her dress was stained with blood her breathing shallow and ragged her expression contorted in pain and fury leaving her once lovely face twisted into something feral and inhuman. "Do you know how long it's been since I've felt such pain, mortal?" She whispered her eyes turning a livid pulsing emerald.

"No, and frankly I don't care," Ao replied looking her straight in the eye without flinching. "So if you're expecting me to feel sorry for wounding you in a Shadow Duel you should look to someone else for pity, Jenny."

Something seemed to snap inside the Sidhe's mind at this. "Pity? _PITY?" _She shrieked a sudden wind howling around her form from every direction casting her hair billowing in every direction as she bared her foul green fangs like a rabid animal.

"_I AM SIDHE! I SERVED THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS WHILE YOUR ANCESTORS WERE STILL CRAWLING OUT OF THE MUD AND YOU WOULD CLAIM POWER OVER ME? I WOULD SOONER LET LOOSE ALL THE POWERS OF HELL UPON THIS WORLD THEN BOW TO AN APE!" _

Tearing a card from her duel disk Jenny's wild eyes flicked over it and froze. A laugh devoid of anything warm, joyful or even life rose up from her mixing with the shriek of the winds around them as the storm rose to a fever pitch. "Very well, Shadowchaser, you wish to make this a battle between servants of the gods, then so be it."

Ao did _not _like the sound of that, even less so then the fact that Jenny's control seemed to be slipping away with most of the life points she had lost in that last attack. If she had anything left up her sleeve by this point in the game chances were it was going to be the strongest card in her deck.

"But before my champion can rise, I must pave the way for its arrival. I play Ocean of Regeneration. This allows me to select one Aqua type monster from my graveyard and special summon it to the field at the cost of forfeiting my ability to normal summon or set. I choose my Draw Slime."

The jiggling protoplasmic draw engine that had given Jenny such an overwhelming advantage since the duel had begun wriggled up from the depths swaying as the rain pelted its body (300/400-500/600). Without another word Jenny played two quick play spells from her hand, Inferno Reckless Summon and Mystical Space Typhoon.

Ao raised an eyebrow as he watched the typhoon destroy Ocean of Regeneration even as two more copies of Draw Slime appeared on the field next to the first. _'Weird, I can understand wanting to swarm the field with more Slime monsters, but why did she the extra space on her field bad enough that she'd waste a spell/trap removal card on one of her own spells instead of trying to defuse one of my facedown cards?' _

Taking the last card in her hand and holding it high above her head, Jenny began to recite an eerie passage that, while not native to Japan, was known enough for a chill to run through Ao's heart to hear it spoken by such a foul and wicked creature. "_'By this you shall know that I am the lord: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it shall be turned to blood.'" _

As she spoke this the three Draw Slimes shuddered and changed color from light pink to deep angry red before dissolving into the water, the crimson stain rapidly spreading out to every corner of the pond stopping a few inches of where Ao and Tai Foom Boom were located, as though the monster's sacred energy was holding back the foul magic at work.

Then, thick viscous bubbles of blood began to boil up as the center of the pond swelled and rippled flowing upward into a towering column of gore drenched slime twenty five feet tall. Then as it seemed to reach full height the mound of slime jerked and pulsed as it began to change shape.

A humanoid torso began to form within the column of sludge, with a hide of slick mottled scales, two abnormally long arms ending in three fingered hands, and twelve writhing tentacles sprouting from the creature's broad back. A misshapen bestial face peered down at the tiny fisherman below a pair of curving ram horns sprouting from its forehead.

The monstrosity threw out its arms and gave a deafening roar that seemed to carry itself even over the fury of the storm. And through this all Jenny laughed twirling about on her toes in a graceful pirouette. "Behold, mortal. Ozama, Scion of the Elder Eye, has come!" (3000/3000-3200/3200).

"Wait, the Elder Eye?" Despite the fear that struck him at the sight of such a terrifying creature something about the monstrosity's title was making the wheels in his head turn furiously. "That's…that's one of the titles held by the Chained God Tharizdun! Jenny don't you telling me your grudge with the Queen of Air and Darkness was enough that you were willing to make an alliance with the being responsible for corrupting the entire Unseelie Court?"

Both Jenny and Ozama seemed to laugh at this, or more specifically they seemed to be laughing at him. "Poor naïve little ape, Tharizdun stole the title of Elder Eye from another being of chaos, a Greater Deity whose power surpassed the Chained God's own even when he roamed freely through the universe. You should be so lucky were I one of his pitiful followers."

"Oh. That's uh," Ao swallowed suddenly feeling like the inside of his mouth had turned to sandpaper. "That's certainly news to me. So does this, super elder evil have a name? Or is this one of those beings who strikes people dead for speaking its name aloud?"

"Hmph, should that be considered your last request then?" Jenny said placing one hand on her hip. "Very well, the being I speak of goes by many titles; The Elder Eye, the Lord of Abominations, but many simply call him Ghaunadaur. Legend has it he was born in the primordial ooze that spawned the precursors of all living beings in the universe, and favors both his eldritch spawn, and those who rebel against the conformities of society."

"In other words, the perfect patron to pledge loyalty to when you're an outcast Sidhe mercenary with a fondness for Slime monsters," Ao said everything starting to fit into place. "You're going to use these children as a way to gain favor with Ghaunadaur to better secure a position within his following."

"Correct. For all of his power The Elder Eye is still a being of chaos and is notoriously fickle about whom he gives favor to. But sweetened with an offering of twelve pure innocent humans as a token of my reverence, Ghaunadaur would be hard pressed not to see the good fortune in recruiting my services."

Now _that _was an unpleasant train of thought to follow; Jenny Green-Teeth was a serious heavyweight among the Sidhe even without direct support from the Queen of Air and Darkness to bolster her powers. If she made an alliance with an elder evil there was no telling how much stronger Jenny might become should her negotiations pay off.

"But that still begs the question: _why _do you need all of this power? The Sidhe are supposed to be beyond mortal emotions like greed and desire. Hell your kind has used those concepts to tempt mortals into making pacts with your kind for centuries!"

Jenny paused and just for a second she seemed hesitant to answer. "It's true that even as I am now, I would normally not consider forging a pact with such dangerous beings. However…" She looked away, but not before Ao saw something that seemed wholly out of place in her eyes: fear.

'_Crap, it would be a lot easier to take her down if she was just on an ego trip. But if something's actually scared her enough to consider making a pact with an elder evil I guess its not fair to ignore a chance for a peaceful alternative like some jackass Knight of Domiel' _

Ao sighed before he spoke again his voice a touch softer. "Look Jenny, I know there's been little love lost between the Unseelie and the Shadowchasers, but if you know something we don't maybe we can come to an agreement to offer you safe haven."

The Sidhe almost seemed to consider this, and then her eyes hardened a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "You fool, the Shadowchasers cannot stop what is coming, _no one _can! It is the bane of life itself and my kind will be among the first to be destroyed! Only among the ranks of another being of chaos and destruction such as Ghaunadaur might I find safety. To seek it anywhere else would only change the location where my grave shall be made."

"Now, enough talk, on with the duel! Now that Ozama has been summoned his special ability activates." From the bloody water beneath Ozama a horde of Slime monsters came slithering up to become absorbed into the demon's body. Their limbs and faces protruded in random places all over its body their cries mixing with its own gleeful roar (3000/3000-7200/7200).

"When Ozama is special summoned successfully, Slime monsters in my graveyard are equipped to him equal to the number of empty spaces in my spell/trap zone," Jenny explained. "What's more, for each monster equipped this way the Scion of the Elder Eye gains eight hundred attack and defense points!"

"…Well at least I can say I tried." Ao gulped. A moment ago he had been fairly certain the defenses his facedown cards provided would be enough to get him through the turn, but there was no telling what other powers an envoy of an elder evil would possess.

"You can also say that you failed! Ozama, destroy Tai Foom Boom with Slime Legion!" Jenny commanded. Ozama threw both his arms forward as they suddenly exploded into dozens of crimson tentacles each one ending in a screaming razor fanged maw winding through the air and coming towards the blowfish Synchro from every direction.

"I activate Killer Frilled Shark's effect, removing it from play to negate Ozama's attack and drain it of five hundred attack points!" Ao shouted ejecting the monster from his graveyard. Like it had before, the slender shark like monster leapt from the water to wrap itself around Ozama's body, only to be caught in several of the tentacles protruding from the slime demon's back and torn in half.

"Useless!" Jenny crowed as a Draw Slime equipped to Ozama suddenly exploded giving her a new card from her deck (7200/7200-6400/6400). "Whenever Ozama is targeted by a card effect, I can destroy one of the Slime monsters equipped to him to negate its activation and destroy it!"

"Oh for the love of…I chain Ozama's effect to my facedown Waboku! Now all battle damage dealt to either me or my monsters dealt this turn are reduced to zero!" Tai Foom Boom crossed his katana blades in front of himself a barrier of shimmering translucent energy appeared around him just as the voracious tentacles fell upon him.

"Hmph, so you survive for one more turn," Jenny said her voice oddly calm all of a sudden. "But you know Shadowchaser, I'm almost glad you forced Ozama to destroy one of his equipped monsters, because with a free space in my spell and trap zones I can play the card that will crush any and all hopes you have for victory, the spell card Double Evolution!"

It didn't seem possible, but somehow Ozama became even more ferocious looking in appearance. His snake like trunk and arms grew as thick as the oldest redwood trees, his face stretched out into a more reptilian fang filled snout, and additional tentacles began sprouting from all over his body, until the monster bore a resemblance to a monster Ao had seen in one of Naga's old videogames called Perfect Chaos (6400/6400-9600/9600).

"_OVER NINE THOUSAND ATTACK POINTS?_" Ao screamed taking a couple steps backward. "Hold on, exactly what happened to the part where you said you wanted to take me alive?"

The look Jenny gave the fisherman was somehow far more terrifying then the abomination under her control. "I changed my mind around the time you struck me with a demigod blowfish possessing more attack points then a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Now I'll settle for keeping your head as a trophy."

"Double Evolution, as its name implies, doubles the stat bonuses a monster I control gains from any and all cards equipped to it be it monsters, spells or traps. Now even if you draw a Soul Release of a second Roll of Fate, Tai Foom Boom's attack won't increase by more then twenty five hundred at best, fourteen hundred points lower then what it would need to even manage a draw with Ozama."

'_Of course even if he tries to use his Synchro's effect to destroy the Scion of the Elder Eye, my monster's final ability protects him from destruction outside of battle so long as at least one Slime monster is still equipped. Now I only need to pound away at his defenses until I can draw my Negate Defense and this duel will be over!' _

"I have no more cards to play Shadowchaser, but one way or another, this duel is nearing its end. Make your move."

Ao drew his next card without saying a word. He looked at the cards in his hand oblivious to the rain coursing down his face and then at his last remaining facedown before finally speaking. "So tell me Jenny; are you satisfied?" He asked softly but firmly the storm seeming to enter a brief lull.

The Sidhe gritted her teeth in irritation. "More obscure questions Shadowchaser? Now you're just trying to stall for time."

"On the contrary, I'm just asking you a very simple question." Ao continued his eyes growing unnervingly intense. "You took twelve innocent children from their homes to gain favor from an elder evil. You attempted to murder me in cold blood when I stood in your way, and then brought me into a Shadow Game with my life, if not my soul, on the line."

"You've summoned multiple monsters in one turn with over seven thousand attack points, traded blows with my best monsters and shook it off like it barely even fazed you, and now you've managed to summon a creature whose power is probably equal to a Tier One God Card. You've held nothing back, shown next to no mercy, and have asked for none in return. So I'll ask you one more time: Are. You. Satisfied."

The Sidhe stared at Ao in silence her expression cold and distant. Then she smiled, a terrible bone chilling toothy smile that displayed more savagery, cruelty and arrogance then all the beauty and loveliness in the world could ever possibly conceal. "Without a shadow of a doubt,"

Ao simply sighed again before nodding. "Good, now I can end this duel without any regrets! Activate Tai Foom Boom's final ability; Thunder Arrow!" He shouted taking two monsters from his graveyard and pocketing them as the Synchro blowfish' attack points rose even higher (5200-6200/2200).

Suddenly every single spine was launched from the blowfish' body simultaneously, all launched in the direction of the Scion of the Elder Eye. Bellowing in defiance and contempt, Ozama lashed out with his tentacles swatting aside the hail of spines like a man trying to rid himself of a swarm of flies.

Eventually Tai Foom Boom seemed to run out of spines to launch, and while Ozama's tentacles were skewered to no end not one of them had gotten through to the demon himself. But as Ozama opened his mouth to laugh he froze noticing both Ao and his monster were gazing skyward, right at the storm clouds still hanging directly overhead.

Right on cue, the largest bolt of lightning yet came streaking down drawn to the hundreds of spines embedded in Ozama's flesh, as the highly conductive nature of the blood used for the base of his body absorbed the full brunt of the blast. The demon gave a scream like nothing ever heard upon this Earth its body convulsing violently as one by one the equipped Slime cards exploded.

When the lightning finally abated, the extent of the damage was hideously apparent. Ozama's entire body seemed to have rapidly dehydrated his bloody slime covered scales now charred and brittle. Swaying drunkenly the demon's tendrils and limbs began to crack and break off dissolving as they hit the water leaving him only barely resembling his original shape (9600/9600-3200/3200).

Jenny stared thunderstruck (no pun intended) at the mangled ruins of her mightiest monster not even noticing how the destruction of the last two Draw Slimes and Polymer Slime had given her three cards from her deck. "What…what have you _done?_"

"Well what I _didn't _do was waste Tai Foom Boom's first effect when you didn't seem even mildly worried despite having already seen it in action," Ao explained. "Your monster may be powerful, but every card has a weakness, and Ozama's is how it needs the Slime monsters equipped to it for its special abilities. So by banishing two Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua monsters in my graveyard, he can forfeit his attack in exchange for destroying every spell and trap card you control."

"This means no equip cards, no bonus for Double Evolution to work with, and no resistance to destruction or targeting effects. Right now aside from the bonus he's getting from Umi, your Scion of the Elder Eye is just another three thousand attack beat-stick."

The Sidhe seemed precariously close to panic before she noticed the cards she had drawn along with her third copy of Deep Sea Fusion. _'My second copy of Salvage and my Card Hexative! On my next turn I can seal away any facedown cards he might set, recover two of my Draw Slimes and summon another Sorcerer Slime and destroy Tai Foom Boom and the rest of his life points!'_

Ao noticed the sudden gleam in Jenny's eyes. "Get some good draws? Unfortunately, you'll never get a chance to use them. I activate my last facedown card, something that every duelist who uses the banished pile is likely to run; Return from the Different Dimension!"

The fisherman's life points were cut in half as an enormous tear seemed to appear in the sky above him. Out of it emerged Tsunagi, Big Jaws, and two Spearfish Soldiers appearing alongside Tai Foom Boom as their attack scored rose from their respective bonuses (2800/2600-3000/2800) (1800/300-2000/500) (1700/1100-2800/1300X2).

"It's still not enough!" Jenny snarled. "The only monster you possess that can defeat Ozama is your accursed Synchro, and unless you happen to have two copies of Swift Strike in your deck it cant attack the turn it used one of its effects!"

The fisherman shook his head as he took a card from his hand. "I don't have a second copy of Quick Strike unfortunately, given that it's a Limited card. What I _do _have though, is a handy little spell called Gift of the Martyr." He played the spell card as Tai Foom Boom turned to him and bowed before vanishing into golden pixels. Those same pixels floated around Tsungi before becoming another suit of golden armor, albeit one built for its long serpentine form (3000/2800-9200/2800).

All the color drained from Jenny's face as a crackle of electricity ran up and down Tsunagi's body building within its mouth into a brilliant orb of golden energy. "Still think it was a good idea to screw with the kids in this town on my watch Jenny? Tsunagi, destroy Ozama and end this duel!" He commanded.

The divine eel's head snapped back before it unleashed the energy building within its mouth in a beam of light that tore straight through the slime demon and struck Jenny lifting her clear off her feet and sending her screaming through the air. Ozama, now sporting a hole in his chest big enough to drive a school bus through, swayed before breaking apart and dissolving into the depths of the Lotus Pond as its foul taint was lifted from the water.

JENNY: 0 LP AO: 1450 LP

As the magic of the Shadow Game began to dissipate the fisherman tilted his head back and sighed. Ao let the rain wash over him for a moment as the toll the battle had taken on him began to make itself known; there probably wasn't a part of him right now that wasn't bruised, cracked or just simply hurt like hell.

Then seeming to regain his composure he strode out of the pond over to where Jenny was lying in a heap at the bottom of the tree she had been knocked against. The Sidhe were powerful beings to be sure, but a hard enough knock on the head is a pretty universal problem no matter what species you are.

"You know considering how Shadow Games normally turn out for the loser, that sensation of whiplash and nausea you're feeling right now is the best case scenario," Ao said reaching down to help her up. "So how about you take a moment to consider yourself lucky, and tell me where those kids are?"

The Sidhe spat out a curse rallying enough to slap his hand away before getting to her feet with a slight wobble in her legs. "I need neither your charity nor your sympathy." She growled her eyes flashing with wounded pride, right before she lost her footing and fell back down with a startled yelp.

Ao rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Jenny, your power is almost gone, your chances of earning Ghaunadaur's favor went up in smoke along with Ozama, and you just slipped on a pile of dog shit. Do you _really _want a lecture on the repercussions for breaking your oath on top of everything else?"

Jenny gave the fisherman a glare which he returned with interest for a minute before the fight seemed to leave her all at once. "The children are at the bottom of the Lotus Pond, concealed within an artificial air bubble in a state of deep slumber. They will remember nothing of what has transpired once woken, and you will be free to provide an explanation to the mundane authorities as you see fit." She sighed.

"Thank you," Ao said pulling out a gemstone and pointing it at the Sidhe. "I can't say there won't be repercussions for your actions Jenny, but I can live with being the target of a psychotic fairy a lot better then I would explaining to the families of those kids how they died at the hands of something that's not even supposed to exist."

Jenny looked up at the fisherman with an expression somewhere between pity and contempt. "Your sense of morality will be your undoing merman. When the Palace of the Blue Moon appears once more, this world will be torn apart. It won't matter where or with who those children are; they will all die, and the two of us with them."

A chill that had nothing to do with the rain that soaked his body went through Ao, however he let none of it show. "Threats to the world come, threats to the world go, and nothing is ever written in stone as long as the Shadowchasers exist." He said as Jenny vanished into the light of the stone.

In the silence that followed Ao looked out over the surface of the Shinobazu Pond as the clouds began to break, allowing the light of the moon to wash over Tokyo. _'Strange, the storm has passed, but this stillness only feels more like the eye of a far greater tempest. Whatever it is Jenny believes is strong enough to destroy the natural order of the world; we need to prepare to face it, or risk allowing her predictions to become reality'. _

Then, pushing such thoughts aside for a later time Ao dove into the depths of the Shinobazu Pond in search of the children slumbering below; unaware of a tiny green ring Jenny had dropped before her arrest, which slowly began to emit a steady signal, beckoning beyond time and space to beings who would stop at nothing to free their mistress, and kill all who stood in their way…

_Phew! Truth be told I cranked this out a lot quicker then my usual writing, so I hope it turns out to everyone's satisfaction. Credit to Ao's character and deck go to my friend MichaelDJ, though many of the custom cards he used in this chapter were designed by myself. To those of you wondering, Ghaunadaur is actually a real elder evil in the Forgotten Realms lore whose power is indeed greater then Tharizdun, so before anyone wonders if (gods forbid) we're pulling a Mary Sue type the name in a search engine and see what you find. _

CUSTOM CARDS

Deep Sea Fusion

Normal Spell Card

Image: An Oxygeddon and Hydrogeddon swirling together in the manner of Polymerization with Water Dragon's silhouette and glowing eyes in the background

Text: Send Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a WATER Fusion Monster card from your hand or your side of the field to the graveyard, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. As long as this card is in your graveyard, increase the ATK and DEF of all WATER Fusion monsters on the field by 200 points x the number of WATER monsters in your graveyard

Chimera Slime

Level 8 Water Attribute

Aqua/Fusion/Effect

2400 Attack

1200 Defense

Image: A slimy creature with the squat body and limbs of a bullfrog, the wings of a bat, the head and tail of a catfish, and a second head of an alligator emerging from a foul swamp.

Fusion Components: 'Revival Jam' + 'Multiple Slime'

Text: When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, by removing one Aqua monster from your graveyard to inflict damage to your opponent's life points by half of this card's attack points. When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, you may special summon one 'Slime' or 'Jam' monster from your graveyard.

Sorcerer Slime

Level 6 Water Attribute

Aqua/Fusion/Effect

2400 Attack

2000 Defense

Image: A humanoid slime monster dressed like a wizard with a face full of tentacles for a beard, a wide brimmed hat and a staff topped with a jewel shaped like an inverted teardrop.

Fusion Materials: 1 'Slime' or 'Jam' monster + 1 or more Water attribute monsters

Text: Once per turn, by discarding one monster from your hand, you may select one 'Slime' or 'Jam' in your graveyard and add that card to your hand.

_Deep Sea Fusion, Chimera Slime and Sorcerer Slime are the creations of author Lux Nero as such all creative credit goes to him_

Ozama, Scion of the Elder Eye

Level 10 Water Attribute

Aqua/Effect

3000 Attack

3000 Defense

Image: A huge demon made out of crimson slime rising up on a snake like trunk with long arms ending in three fingered hands, curved goat horns, and a mottled scale covered face with serrated teeth with tentacles sprouting from its back.

Text: This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be special summoned by offering three face up monsters with 'Slime', 'Jam' or 'Humanoid Worm Drake' in their names as a tribute. When this card is special summoned successfully, equip a number of 'Slime' and 'Jam' monsters to this card equal to the number of free spaces available in your spell/trap zone.

As long as a 'Slime' or 'Jam' monster is equipped to this card, it gains the following effects:

* This card gains 800 attack and defense for every 'Slime' or 'Jam' monster equipped.

* This card cannot be destroyed by the effects of monster, spell or trap effects that do not target.

* If this card is targeted by an opponent's card effect, destroy an equipped monster to negate the activation of that card and destroy it.

_Ozama was originally created by my other friend MichaelDJ54 for his story 'Seal of Orichalcos: The Next Generation' with a different name and effect so original credit goes to him, I just mucked about with his designs._

Pot Crab

Level 2 Water Attribute

Aqua/Effect

600 Attack

600 Defense

Image: A cute little hermit crab using an upside down Pot of Greed as its shell. The pot is clearly cracked and battered but one eye is glowing slightly.

Text: Once per turn you can use one of the following effects:

* If this card is removed from play, draw one card

* You can remove this monster and one face up Aqua, Sea Serpent or Fish type monster you control to draw two cards

Tsunagi

Level 8 Wind Attribute

Sea Serpent/Effect

2800 Attack

2600 Defense

Image: An enormous black and green eel coiling in midair, two tendrils on either side of its snout resembling a mandarin mustache.

Text: You can special summon this card from your hand by removing one face up Sea Serpent, Fish or Aqua type monster you control. Once per turn you can special summon one Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua type monsters from either your hand or from either player's removed from play pile except 'Tsunagi'.

Rainbow Koi

Level 4 Water Attribute

Fish/Tuner/Effect

1200 Attack

1400 Defense

Image: A large Koi splashing out of the water its scales sparkling in multiple colors.

Text: If there is not at least one Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua type monster in your remove from play pile, remove this face up card from play.

Level Reflect

Spell Card Normal Type

Image: A puzzled Gilford the Legend looking into a mirror with the image of a Swordsman of Landstar looking out at him.

Text: Select one face up monster you control, and then another face up monster on either side of the field. The level of the selected monster becomes equal to your own.

Tai Foom Boom

Level 8 Water attribute

Fish/Synchro/Effect

2000 Attack

2000 Defense

Image: A blowfish with a bushy samurai mustache and golden armor floating in the middle of a waterspout at sea, a samurai sword hanging beneath each fin as lightning flashes all around it.

Synchro Requirements: 1 Tuner + 2 or more Non Tuner Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua Type monsters.

Text: As long as this card is face up on the field its attribute is also treated as Wind. Each time a Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua type monster is removed from play, increase the attack of this card by 500. Once per turn you may forfeit this card's attack to use one of the following effects:

* By sending two Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua type monsters from you're removed from play pile to your graveyard, you can destroy all face up monsters your opponent control

* By removing two Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua type monsters in your graveyard from play, you can destroy all face up spell and trap cards your opponent controls.

Swift Strike

Spell Card Normal Type

Image: A samurai warrior decapitating a ninja as he steps past him.

Text: Select one face up monster you control, if it is the only monster on your side of the field you can use one of the following effects:

* That monster can attack your opponent on your first turn

* That monster can ignore any part of its effect(s) that would prohibit it from attacking this turn

Acid Slime

Level 4 Water Attribute

Aqua/Effect

800 Attack

1000 Defense

Image: A bright blue slime creature, roughly in the shape of an X, with a single red blob in the middle.

Text: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, inflict 800 damage to your opponent.

Draw Slime

Level 2 Water Attribute

Aqua/Effect

300 Attack

400 Defense

Image: A roughly humanoid shape blob of red slime.

Text: When this card is sent to the graveyard, draw 1 card.

_Draw Slime and Acid Slime were used by Mad Dog in the GX Anime. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode._

Ocean of Regeneration

Spell Card Continuous Type

Image: A Lone figure standing in the middle of the ocean, a bright light shining on it from above.

Text: Select one Aqua-Type monster in your graveyard with 1000 or less attack and Special Summon it. It is destroyed during the End Phase. When that monster is destroyed, destroy this card. You cannot normal summon or set during the turn you activate this card.

_Ocean of Regeneration was used by Krump in the original anime._

Inside the Pot

Spell Card Normal Type

Image A glowing spellbook flying out of the Pot of Greed

Text: Both players draw 3 cards.

_Inside the Pot was first used by Judai in the GX Manga._

Double Evolution 

Spell Card Continuous Type

Image: A figure exploding with energy while a massive 2 hangs overhead.

Text: While this card remains on the field, select one face up monster on your side of the field. All increases and decreases to the selected monsters ATK through a Spell, Trap or Monster are doubled.

_Double Evolution was first used in the Yugioh R Manga._

…

**Whatever the Sidhe said about the end of the world is coming true.**

**And we're the only people can that hope to stop it.**

**But what's in this temple, and what treasures does it hold inside?**

**Guess we'll have to wait, these guys are getting annoying!**

**Next time.**

**Chapter 4**

**The Blue Moon Temple Rises!**


	4. The Blue Moon Temple Rises!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yugioh Franchise, or the Shadowchaser Franchise. Naga is property of Metal Overlord 2.0, and Aurum is Property of Lux-Nero.

Well, this is where the plot starts kicking in folks! Stay tuned, it's gonna be one hell of a bumpy ride!

…

"Are you sure they will take the bait?"

"Of course. Stormbringer's weakness has always been his love for this world and his people. If information is revealed to him as a possible threat, he will have no choice but to persue it. Besides which, the word of a Sidhe is irrefutable a warning as any."

"Vague, yes, but that is not worth the risk of diverting our forces to a potential dead end. And even if we WERE to find the temple, our kind cannot breach its defenses easily. Its wards are protected by wards of powerful good magic, something we most c ertaintly are not."

"So now we will wait, as we always done since the beginning. Only when our enemies have played their role to our satisfaction, and have led us to our prize, we will escort them from the stage…

…Permanently."

…

"Well when you put it like THAT, Ao, it kinda makes out days seem…mundane."

"Yeah, it's not everyday you go up against a Scion of Chaos. Compared to that, dealing with a drunk bull demon sounds boring."

"It's not as if I'm trying to one up you, my friends, I simply don't like having my fishing spot used for the various bouts of evil, is all."

A small laugh broke out between the three, as they sat down by the table in the kitchen in their home, each holding a cup. "I can't imagine anyone being okay with that, I suppose." Naga chuckled.

"So, how much longer do you suppose we need to wait?" Aurum asked as she leaned on the table with her elbows, electing a small glare from Ao. She wasn't one for "manners", sometimes. "I mean, how much do we have to go on from a Sidhe?"

"Considering the ominous way of her warning, I doubt it would be something of an empty threat. It has to be something at the very least very serious." Ao said, trying to keep his nerves about his partners manurisms in check. "I suppose all we can do right now is wait for Jalal to get back to us."

Aurum elicted another sigh from her mouth and stood up, needing to stretch her muscles. Rather than pace, she leaned against the backwall, right between a rather ornate painting, and a vase Naga declared "was a priceless antique."

Both of the male Shadowchasers winced heavily at her positioning. Knowing Aurum and her rather…well, less than perfect record of not being clumsy. "Um, Aurum, if I could make a suggestion-" Ao said, but was cut off by Naga.

"Could you PLEASE not stand to something so delicate and very expensive?"

Aurum merely rolled her eyes and pushed off from the wall, a loud crunching sound hitting their ears and making them wince. Aurum didn't seem to hear, that or she just didn't care. "You guys really need to relax."

Walking from the wall, there was now a rather impressively sized hole where she had been leaning on. Naga groaned and Ao signed. "That's going to be costly."

"No it won't." Aurum said, "we have all the tools we need to fix it right now, all I need to do is go out into the shed and grab the-"

"NO!" Both men screamed a little too desperately. "I mean…no, I actually think it's time to call Jalal. He should have some answers by now."

"Yes!" Naga said with a quick nod of his head. "Yeah, Jalal, he's sure to be done by now." He wasted no time on pulling up the holographic imaging needed to communicate with their boss. Jalal appeared, but wearing a pair of slippers, a robe, and holding a hot cup of coffee in his hand. He seemed surprised to see them.

"Oh," he stammered, "hello you three, I didn't expect to hear from you so…soon."

"Nice duds, boss." Naga said with a nervous little grin. The look in his eyes were pleading a silent "help us" to him.

Aurum crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "You guys are so desperate…"

Catching wind very quickly, Jalal nodded and assumed the more dignified position in front of them, glancing at his three Tokyo duelists. "Right then, down to business I suppose. First things first, I'd like to commend Ao for putting a stop to the Jenny's actions with the children."

It took Ao quite a bit to not break out in a blush, and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I wasn't going to stand around while someone used my favorite fishing spot for something as despicable as kidnapping children for the sake of a ritual…"

Jalal gave him a nod. "I doubt anyone else in your family would stand by as well."

"Sir." Naga spoke up, suddenly. "Did we give any word on what the Jenny was talking about, before she went into custody?"

Jalal gave a low sigh and a shake of his head. "Threats of the apocalypse are not nearly so common as to pinpoint the exact nature of what Jenny was talking about." He chuckled lightly. "It really says something about the line of work I'm in, that when someone comes up to me and starts ranting about how some ancient super weapon, eldritch abomination, or some vengeful lost civilization is about to rise up and wipe out all life on the planet, and my first reaction is to ask them to be more specific."

"Before we go any further, I was wondering, what exactly did the Jenny mean about Ozama and the Elder Eye. Was it true, that Tharzidun stole the title from someone greater?" Ao asked, the question nagging in the back of his mind since the incident.

"Actually while there are many who still debate this, what Jenny Greenteeth said about Ghaunadaur's power being greater then Tharizdun DOES have a basis in fact. For all his infamy Tharizdun is still classified as at best a Intermediate Power among the forces of Chaos and Madness. Ghaunadaur on the other hand has been a Greater Power since the beginning of time, and has likely only grown in power thanks to its long standing rivalry with Lolth."

"The spider goddess of the Dark Elves? What connection does she have with an immortal pile of snot?"

"Well according to legend Ghaunadaur was one of many who sought to court Lolth, but when he was rejected he flew into a rage and has since considered her a sworn enemy, even if she hardly seems to consider him worth the energy to do the same."

"ANYWAY…" Aurum suddenly spoke up loudly, trying to get the group back on track. "Ao said the Jenny was talking about the Temple of the Blue Moon. Is there any word on that?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Jalal said. "There is tale about this ancient, mystical temple that was said to appear only during a full moon, but it always seems to appear in a different location. It's a jumping temple that's near impossible to decipher it's location. We've attempted to track it down with anyone who was at least with the Shadow arts, but I'm afraid it's no such luck."

"What's so special about the temple?" Aurum asked. "It just sounds…kinda bland."

"It's what's IN the temple that most people often sought after it." Jalal said. "A variable treasure trove of ancient magical artifacts dating back all the way to Feudal Japan. Some of the most dangerous artifacts alone could be found in there."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Naga said. "Dangerous artifacts? As in…well, shoot, no wonder Jenny told us about that, it sounds like someone who's even mildly insane can bring about the end."

Jalal couldn't help but chuckle. "Thankfully, whoever designed the temple thought ahead to that. Based on my research, there are quite a few precautionary spells holding up even after a millennia. One of the most powerful being that those with evil intentions for the items inside will never be allowed access, a very powerful brand of good magic."

"I still don't like that there are weapons of mass destruction simply LAYING there," Naga said, "regardless of who can and can't enter. Power corrupts and all that stuff."

"If we could find where it was, then I'd give you lot permission to at least stay there, if it worries you that much." Jalal said.

Aurum suddenly looked off to the side, a deep look in her eyes. "Hang on." She said as she rose to her feet and entered the other room, flipping her cell phone open.

The three men watched as she vanished, while they turned their attention back to their boss. "So that's all we know about it?" Ao asked. "That it appears randomly over Japan, it's near impossible to detect its movement, and it's full of magical armaments?"

"That's the gist, yes." He said. "I'm quite curious as to who intends to enter it, as I'm sure they're aware of the fallback spells."

It was then Aurum entered quickly. "it'll appear at the base of Mt. Fuji, near Fuji-Hakone-Izu National park."

The three stared at her for a moment, Jalal speaking first. "How…" He stammered. "I had some of my best men try to track it down. Who on earth did you call, Aurum?"

A blush rose to her cheeks, and she looked away. Naga decided to spare her from further embarrassment.

"Well, either way." He said quickly, "now that we know the location, we should go down and stake the place out…just to be sure of course."

Aurum gave a little nod, before she turned on her heel. "We'll go as soon as I'm done fixing that hole in the wall."

"NO!"

…

The three Shadowchasers wasted no time pulling Aurum away from doing even further damage to their house and hopped up onto their D-Wheels. Thankfully, the park wasn't that far away from their home, so they managed to make plenty of time before the sun even began to set.

"So I suppose all we can do now is wait." Naga said. Looking at his watch, a bead of sweat rolled down his head and he sighed. "Well, this is gonna be a fun five hours…"

So the three of them went off to prepare themselves that may have happened that night. Aurum immediately took to practicing her martial arts against the various trees that littered the park, trying her hardest not to fell one accidently. Ao walked off the beaten path and sat down in a meditative position, humming softly under his breath. Naga pulled out his blackberry and began to message his master, wondering if he had any words of wisdom for the job they were partaking.

Thankfully, the day went fast for them. As the people in the park began to disperse before it got too dark, the sun began to set off in the horizon.

"So what happens now?" Aurum asked. "Should we just wait, or will it just-"

Her answer came with a suddenly pin of light appearing from deep between the trees. The three of them guarded their eyes as the light grew brighter and brighter, until it seemed impossibly bright. A low rumbling was heard along with the light, as well as low, chanting sounds began to flood their eyes. Blinded and near deaf, they backed away further and further until it suddenly stopped as quickly as it started. Peeking through their fingers, they were granted a new sight.

There was now an immense temple sitting before them, almost as if it had been there the entire time, looking very similar to an ancient Incan temple. A long staircase that let up to a small square building atop, the corners flanked with still lit torches. The strangest thing was it had no signs of aging, it looked as if it were made mere days ago, not over a millennia ago.

"Whoa…" Aurum whispered, looking up at it. "I can't believe how big it is…"

"I can't believe it's real." Ao said, "I thought for one fleeting moment, it'd just be the ramblings of another psychopath. I'll never doubt another crazy person again." He paused. "That came out wrong, but you know what I mean.'

"Come on!" Naga said. "Let's see what's inside!" He quickly rushed up the stairs, his curiosity piqued. Aurum and Ao looked at each other, shrugged and rushed after him.

As they rushed up the stairs, the branches of a nearby tree rustled, and a figure fell out of it, landing on his knee and lifted to his full size, a full foot and a half. "I can't believe it!" He said, his fangs glinting in the light of the torches. "They actually led us right to it! It's almost too easy!"

"Heh, I can't believe they didn't even look over their shoulder." Said a much deeper voice from the tree behind him, another figure landing behind him, this one much, much taller than the other, at least six feet tall. "Well, what they don't know won't hurt them. 'Sides, this way you'll hit the double digits."

"Then the others will KNOW I'm a force of nature that they don't want to mess with." Said the smaller figure, giggling as the two of them walked up the stairs after them.

…

"Wow…" Aurum said. "It's so…" A pause. "Bland."

There was definitely an air of disappointment as they entered the main room. Inside was a simple four walled room, made entirely out of a very smooth marble, it seemed. On the other side of the door was a large bowl full of a bright orange, crackling fire, on either side of it a staircase that descended further into the temple. The most noticeable thing of the room, however, was two of the objects.

On one side of the room was a rather impressive looking sword, larger than either of the Shadowchasers, hanging on the wall. It's blade was stainless steel, with only a few dents and marks. Behind it was a rather terrifying visage. It was a mostly black painting, a large black spot in the middle of the painting that seemed to be different from the rest of the ink. Eight long tendrils that stretched from the spot which revealed a snarling visage of…SOMETHING. Below it was a scattering of red and orange paint, to show fire and flames.

The other side of the room was less than exciting. On another pedestal, somehow balancing perfectly on its side was a stone egg, about half as big as Ao. Behind it was a painting, but it's color had long since faded. The closest they could make out of it was a figure, standing atop a mountain with an orange sun at his back.

"Hm…" Naga said as he approached the sword, staring past it and at the painting. "There's…something about this that grips my stomach in fear."

"Maybe because, as the boss said, all of these items can pretty much be dangerous regardless of who uses them?" Aurum asked.

"So I think it would be in our best interest to not touch anything." Ao said as he curiously inspected the egg. There was nothing all that interesting about it. "I could make a reference about Aladdin here, but it'd be too simple."

"So we're just suppose to stay here until the sun rises?" Aurum asked, crossing her arms. "That's so….dull."

"Dull, is it? Then allow me and my associate to quell your boredom."

They looked over at the doorway to see two figures, standing just outside of the entrance. In the light, they could see them perfectly, one tall and one short. The short one had olive green skin and a bald head, a cold look in his eyes and sharp teeth, wearing a black robe with the hood pulled down. Under his left eye was a strange symbol. It looked like Indelible Imprint most criminals got, but in a roman numeral, a IX.

The other was almost too large to even enter the two. He was also bald, with his skin seemingly covered in lime green scales. His eyes were a sickly yellow, with black long irises like a cats. His face stretched out a bit, his teeth pointing out from it, like they were too big to fit in his mouth. Under his left eye, like his associate, was another mark, but this one with the sign XIV.

"Hello, Shadowchasers." Chuckled the larger one, smirking viciously. "Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Aoki, and this is my partner, Inpu."

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Giggled the smaller creature.

"And as part of the Shadow Slayers, we greet thee with honor..."

Their breath was lost in their throats at that declaration. The Shadow Slayers were a very dangerous group, a splinter cell of the League of Assassins, who specialized in killing Shadowchasers. The mark under their eye, a sign of being part of said group, was a number, depicting the number of Shadowchasers who fell under their might. Apparently, these two were no slackers.

"Well…" Naga said, a little bit of bravado boiling up. "I'd like to see you get in here, since this place is protected by good magic. Trust me, there's nothing good about you two!"

The confidence suddenly died when Aoki and Inpu simply…walked through, snickering at their expressions.

"Surprised?" Aoki asked, holding his hand out to show that he was indeed in the same room as the three humans. "Yeah, see, we know about that little loophole about not being able to enter, but only if we have any intention for the items inside."

"Thankfully, another little loophole comes just from that." Inpu said, his voice reaching another high pitched giggle. "While we indeed have intentions for the items inside, we have no PERSONAL need for them." His smirk grew, as to show his fangs. "So I suggest you lot back away slowly. We don't want to have to get…violent."

"In case you didn't notice, there are three of us and two of you," Aurum said as she suddenly snapped into a fighting position. "What's better is I don't think the little one can even ride most of the lines at Kaiba Land Land's kiddy rides."

Inpu's eye twitched and he snarled, while Naga also got into a fighting position, while Ao reached behind him and pulled out a small object, snapping it into what appeared to be a fishing rod.

"So I suggest YOU lot give up, before WE have to get rough with you," Naga warned.

"You two are automatically in major trouble for killing our colleagues, so it doesn't look good for you." Ao finished.

"Hmph," Inpu said as he took a deep breath. "While it's true, my…stature may not be the most intimidating…" He pulled out a handful of paper talismans from his robe. "I am quite skilled in the art of magic!" Shouting a incantation, he threw the talismans into the air, which began to glow yellow and suddenly whirled around in a miniature tornado.

They suddenly began to fold over themselves until they produced a being almost as big as Aurum. It's limbs were skinny, as was its body, while its head was square. Two black holes stared out, which suddenly turned green. The new creature opened its mouth and released an ear piercing screech.

The Shikigami stared directly at Aurum, its glowing pinpoints of light focusing squarely on her. Aurum did the same, lifting a hand as if to challenge it. Without another work, the paper demon struck, lashing out with one of its long, whip like appendages and sliced at her face. Hissing in pain, Aurum felt her cheek to feel a warm drip of blood leaking down.

Immediately, her teeth grit and her hands balled into fists. "You little post it note! You'll regret that!" With that, she leapt into the attack, throwing a punch, to which the paper demon avoided effortlessly.

Naga barely had time to ask if she even wanted help when a green beam of energy sailed right past his head, burning some of the hair on his head. His attention turned back to Inpu, who held another talisman in front of his hand, glowing with an ethereal light. Inpu's eyes held a very dangerous, malicious glint as he stepped forward.

"So, Snake Blood," he taunted the boy as it began to glow. "Tell me, how much experience do you have against magic users?"

"Enough…" Naga said with a gulp, taking a step away from him out of precaution.

"Then I'm sure you know; these will hurt." And fired another blast at the Shadowchaser. Naga barely had time to duck before he moved his body away from another blast fired directly out of it. What Naga did lack in combat moves, he made up for in defensive moves.

Ao kept his eyes on Aoki the entire time, circling him slowly circling him slowly, wary of his movements. The crocodile like man did the same thing, eyeing him up and down, before he chuckled. "You think I'm gonna be afraid of some half fish with a fishing pole? Please."

"Well, in all honesty, I didn't expect you to be." Ao said, almost conversationally as he swung his pole like a sword. "Not a lot of people are exactly frightened of this, since it doesn't look all that special. However, Jalal did fit me with a few extra attachments to make it a bit formidable in battle."

"Well, let me show you how worried I am!" Aoki threw a punch, which Ao barely managed to dodge. The wind from the attack alone was enough to make him realize, if he even got one hit on him, he'd be down for good. Note to self: Don't get hit.

Aurum was growing more and more ferocious in her own fight with the Shikigami. She was throwing punches and kicks as fast as she could, but the Shikigami seemed to be a master of dodging skills, managing to fold in on itself effortlessly and taunt her all the while with cackles, gestures and even attempting to blow Raspberries.

"You little post it note, when I get a hold of you, I'll rip you in two!" She shouted as she threw another punch, only for it to slink away. She did reach out at the last minute though and grabbed it's thin leg in her grip. The Shikigami looked back in surprise as the Shadowchaser gave it a wicked grin. "Now then, how about-"

She interrupted her own sentence with a loud cry of pain as the demon flattened it's leg out turning it razor sharp. She pulled away and looked down at the slight red cut in her palm. It wasn't deep at all, but it was enough to cause her to wince. The Shikikami giggled and blew another raspberry before it slinked off deeper into the room. Growling a little bit she gave chase.

Naga was getting a little tired as well. Inpu hardly gave him a chance to breath, shooting spell after spell after spell after him. Thankfully, being part snake himself, he was able to dodge and duck with ease. He was growing more and more tired though, panting a little bit as he barely avoided another blast, looking over at the cackling Inpu.

"You may as well give up, Shadowchaser." He said. "You have no hope in saving yourself. You'll never get close to me, and I have enough energy in myself to make you dance like a toy for as long as I please! Any second now, you're going to have to stop…"

"Yeah, well…" Naga said, panting softly. "Doesn't mean I can't be sneaky and try something later on ya know."

"Trust me, snake-blood. You'll be dead by then." And fired another blast of energy. Once again, Naga dodged and rolled out of the way, reaching into his sleeve. Without missing another beat, Naga threw what appeared to be a small dagger at Inpu, who yelped an quickly rolled out of the way.

Inpu grinned. "You missed!"

"Wasn't aiming for you."

Looking over his shoulder, the imp saw that his talisman was now pinned to the wall, the magical energies once residing in it dying out. Naga quickly rushed over to the wall before Inpu had a chance to react and pulled his weapon from the wall. "Now then, now that that's a bit more fair…" He chuckled. "Let's see how tough you can be when you're not spamming magical blasts?"

Ao was having little trouble with Aoki. While Inpu was at least smart enough to keep his distance, and the Shikigami was swift, Ao was…thick. He charged immediately and swung his fists in an attempt to crush him, but Ao dodged easily and used his fishing rod to strike the Kroccodile Shadow in the back. Aoki grunted loudly in pain, not expecting such a sharp blow from something like a fishing rod. Looking back, he snarled, "Just what is that thing made of?"

"Like I said, it's not like most fishing lures." Ao said as he swung it again, this time striking him in the shoulder. He cried out in pain again and stepped away. "While I'm not all that good with hand to hand combat like Aurum or swift enough to evade attacks like Naga, I do decide to use my opponents recklessness to my advantage. So while you're thick enough to strike me without thinking of anything else, I'm able to strike you in return-"

"I don't care!" Aoki shouted finally. "Christ you can go on a tangent! Now just stay still and DIE!" He swung his fist. Ao flicked the rod and suddenly, a lure wrapped around the Kroc's wrist. Pulling it down, he slammed into the ground with a grunt.

"That was more fun than I had hoped it would be."

Aurum howled in anger as the Shikigami had finally stopped its erratic movements. She threw a punch, only for the Shikigami AGAIN to fold in on itself and duck out of the way. The attack struck the stone egg off to the side of the room, causing a web of cracks to spread out over it. Gasping, she quickly jumped away, expecting the egg to explode in an apocalypse based spell…but no such thing happened. The Shikigami appeared behind her, giggling softly to itself while Aurum spun around on her heel, clenching a fist.

The large shikigami cackled loudly at Aurum, seeing the handiwork that the Shadowchaser had wrought on the room throughout the skirmish. Needless to say, the muscular Shadowchaser wasn't too thrilled about being laughed at by the creature that had caused her to break several pieces of famous antiques, especially that large stone egg that was barely holding together.

"Hmm, you're a slippery little bugger," Aurum growled as she cracked her knuckles loudly. "But no matter, I've managed to take down even worse before! Even if I have to smash up this entire temple to take you down!"

The shikigami shrugged its paper thin shoulders slightly before its body shuddered several times, almost convulsing as its arms lifted up to the sides. Aurum raised an eyebrow as the convulsion began to only focus on the shikigami's right arm. The papery body of the shikigami began to fold and unfold until the arm began to resemble that of a duel disk that was entirely made out of paper that encompassed his entire arm save for its thin fingers.

Then using its other hand, the shikigami reached deep into its mouth and pulled out a tall stack of duel monster cards that it held up towards Aurum.

For a moment, Aurum stood there with her head tilted slightly, "You want to duel? Are you even a Shadowkind?"

The shikigami hissed loudly once again, carefully fitting the cards into the paper-like duel disk, the paper immediately hardened and glowed with a dark light. The shikigami cackled loudly as it lifted its arm up towards Aurum.

"If it'll get you to stand still," Aurum grumbled as she snapped her arm to the side, making the duel disk on her arm activate. "Then I'll be more than happy to oblige! I'll crumple you up and throw ya away!" (ALP: 8000)

…

"So." Naga said with a chuckle as he flicked his blade up and down and catching it each time. "Unless you wanna try and waste a little bit more magic on something else. Your choice."

Naga snarled a little bit and narrowed his eyes. Then he grinned. "Very well." He said. "Then I'll just get you in a way that your other affiliates went down!" He pointed dramatically at him, "with a duel!"

"I knew it." Naga sighed loudly. "It's always a duel, at the least minute with their back turned. Well, know what, fine. Since I really have no choice." He snapped his Duel Disk into place. "Then I'll duel you!"

Naga drew his opening hand before suddenly noticed something odd about the duel disk the imp was now wearing. "Uh, pardon me for asking, but isn't that the Kaiba Corp Junior Model designed for preschoolers?" He asked sweat-dropping.

Inpu closed his eyes his face seeming to turn a somewhat darker shade of blue. "When you're a Shadow of my particular…stature, you make do with what means are available. Now are you going to make your move or not?" He growled.

…

Aoki looked at the other two, to see that they had all ready long since begun the duel. However, if he were to challenge him to a ground duel, he'd still be no closer to what they were here for. So he stared at Ao for another second before he yanked his arm free from the wire and reached into his jacket. "Yeah, well know what? When in Rome…and since my own partners seem to be up to the idea…" He pulled out a small remote and pressed the large, blue button on it. Outside the engine of a revving D-Wheel could be heard and, roaring up the steps and into the room, one of the machines rushed in. It had a simple paintjob, very sleek, with a large grimacing maw on the front like that of a dragon.

"Catch me if you can, chaser!" He laughed as he hopped onto his D-Wheel and rushed down one of the stairs near the back of the room. Ao tried to catch him by flicking his lure at him, but missed.

"Dammit!" He cursed to himself before he followed suit. However, since his own D-Wheel did not come with a special device like that, he had to rush back out of the temple for another moment and seconds later burst into it. He gave chase after Aoki into the depths of the temple.

…

The shikigami seemed to snicker as it slipped off the top five cards from its deck. (SLP: 8000)

"So, how is this gonna go?" Aurum questioned as he looked at her opening hand. "From what I can tell, you can't speak and unless that duel disk of your can talk, then this duel…"

Before Aurum could finish her sentence, the Shikigami slipped off a sixth card from the top of its deck and slipped one card into its duel disk. Aurum blinked a few times as a large plant appeared next to the Shikigami, with five disgusting bulbs popping up on the plant's body. Aurum rolled her eyes when she saw that card, "Is that Seed Cannon?"

The Shikigami hissed loudly with a nod as it slapped another card onto its duel disk, this one creating a dark plant with a large thorny seed pod and a wilting pink flower around the plant's sides (100/300). One of the plant bulbs on the Seed Cannon bloomed as the Shikigami stuck out what appeared to be a paper tongue from its 'mouth' making the plant's bulb stick up straight.

Aurum's eyes widened as she quickly threw her arms up in front of her chest, the monster was known as Evil Thorn, and it looked as though the Shikigami was activating its effect.

The Evil Thorn exploded with several thorns flying towards Aurum's body, the thorns sped past Aurum's body and made a few nicks in her clothes. '_Alright, that was a good call to block, this isn't a normal duel.' _(ALP: 7700)

That's when the ground in front of the Shikigami erupted, which allowed two more Evil Thorns to sprout out from the ground (100/300 x2). And two more of the bulbs on the Seed Cannon bloomed once more.

Aurum slowly lowered her arms and glared at the two plants in front of her, "Alright, I think I know what you're strategy is, but you're not the only one who can rush the field and…"

The Shikigami hissed loudly as it lifted up another card, Aurum blinked a few times, "How was I supposed to know you weren't done with your move?"

The Shikigami was silent as it slipped the card into its paper duel disk, which allowed a spell card appear in front of the paper crafted man, this one showing the Dark Magician Girl holding up a paper crane in her hands while the Dark Magician looked frustrated at the sight of crumpled paper in his hands.

Aurum raised an eyebrow at the card and read it out loud, "Origami Cranes, a continuous spell card that… Oh, great."

Both of the Shikigami's Evil Thorns shattered into millions of sparks. From the sparks, two small paper crafted cranes (0/0 x2) floated down from the air and landed in front of the Shikigami, which caused the last two bulbs on the Seed Cannon to bloom, the entire plant began to shake violently. "Great, two more plants – and that means…"

Aurum didn't get a chance to finish before the Seed Cannon exploded; sending several sharp seeds towards Aurum who barely lifted her arms up to block the seeds. However, the force was more than enough to push the muscular Shadowchaser back, with her overcoat now tattered greatly. (ALP: 5200)

"Damn it, that was my favorite overcoat," Aurum growled as she lifted up her arms to show that the overcoat she was wearing had several holes in it. "Are you done?"

The Shikigami cackled as it nodded a few times.

…

Naga held up his hands as though trying to calm an angry dog. "Hey I'm just saying, most assassins I hear about in this business pack something more intimidating when it comes to hardware. But if you want a move that badly here you go; I summon Alien Shocktrooper in attack mode."

With a deep snarl a hulking reptilian creature bounded onto the field its features seeming equal parts centurion and amphibian in nature. It brandished an exotic wave patterned blade at Inpu taking a battle stance (1900/800).

"You summoned a member of the Nineteen Hundred Club on your first turn," The imp said his eyes still closed. "Not bad, but it's nothing I haven't seen before either."

"Is that so? Well maybe throwing in a facedown card will make things a little more interesting," Naga said taking another card from his hand and setting it behind his monster. "That's all I've got for now."

'_Normally I'm not one to open with a beat-stick, but if this guy really is some Shadowchaser's version of a cop killer, anything less then my best could give him an opening too soon for me to counter.' _

"My turn then, draw!" Inpu exclaimed snapping the top card off of his deck. "I'll begin by playing Dark World Dealings. Now we both draw once, and discard once more." Naga gave him a wary look but complied as they both drew a card from their deck sending another from their hands.

"Hmm," Inpu mulled over his hand for a moment before he shrugged. "You know other then playing my spell, I don't see the need for much else this turn. So for now I'll just set a monster and two facedown cards." The little imp said as three brown backed cards appeared in front of him on the field.

"And he called my moves unoriginal," Naga sighed drawing his next card and gave it a quick glance before placing it on his duel disk. "To start I'll add to my forces and summon Alien Warrior in attack mode."

A shape fell from the ceiling above their heads before landing in a three point crouch hard enough to shake the ground. The armored alien dinosaur Naga had used in his duel with Katakana rose up crossing its talons in front of its chest before swinging them out as it gave a fearsome battle cry (1800/1000).

"Alien Shocktrooper, attack his-GAH!" Naga clapped his hands over his ears as an earsplitting screech, like microphone feedback amplified by a hundred, filled the air. Both his monsters seemed equally distraught giving loud hisses of agitation.

"Sorry, but by declaring an attack, you activated my Command Silencer," Inpu said pointing to a strange device resembling a totem pole outfitted with bass speakers. "This quick-play spell ends your battle phase and grants me an extra draw."

"Oh come on, first Draw Paradox and now Command Silencer? Why do the bad guys always get to use the good stuff while we shoot ourselves in the foot following the Ban lists anyway?" Naga grumbled setting another card facedown before motioning for Inpu to take his turn.

"Probably that suicidal sense of morality your leader's kept all these years," Inpu suggested drawing a card. "Then again Jalal's starry eyed naivety ensures we never run short on clients who want to send his employees' remains back to him in an envelope so who am I to complain?"

When he glanced at what the card he had drawn the little imp gave a smirk that showed off several of his fangs. "Alright Shadowchaser, its time to feel the wrath of my signature move: The Bunny Burn Blitz!"

…

The interior of the stone hallway was far larger than Ao had expected, enough for the two D-Wheels to run through and seemed almost endless. He heard Aoki give a loud, barking laughter at the Shadowchasers awe.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?" The Kroccodile Shadow laughed, "Bigger on the inside than on the outside, gives me plenty of room to finish you off and make me an even twenty."

"What I don't get is why even bother with a Riding Duel if you just wanted to duel me," Ao shouted over the roar of their D-Wheels. "Surely it would make more sense to simply duel me in the front room with the others, than waste your time riding through the innards of an ancient temple."

"Call me a stickler for excitement." Aoki smirked, "What's the fun in staying in one place when the unknown is just as fun."

_Besides, I can end up killing two birds with one stone if I waste enough time here tonight. The sword is ours, and I leave the Shadowchasers to die when the sun hits the temple. It's fool proof!_

Ao grunted and pointed a hand forward. The purple light indicating Speed World 2 had activated lit up and surrounded the two. "Speed World, set!" Both of the duelists shouted. Their runnings hit 8000 Life Points, and both drew a full hand. "Let's duel!"

**(Ao: 8000/SPC: 0) - - - - - - - (Aoki: 8000/SPC: 0)**

"I'll go first! Draw!" Ao snatched his card from off the top of his deck and looked down at it. "I'll start off by summoning FlyFang in attack mode!"

A purple portal appeared beside the Shadowchaser, and out of it came a strange sight. It was a great white shark, but its fins were impossibly wide and long, almost as if they were wings. (1600/300)

"Then, I set these two cards facedown, and end my turn." He said as two cards appeared behind the flying shark.

"Heh, I ain't afraid of your fish," Aoki chuckled as he looked at his hand. "This deck alone has killed nineteen of your little friends, and I've gone up against fiends, dinosaurs, Machines, Warriors, and thunder types! It'll be a cold day in hell when I'm afraid of a piece of Sushi! I summon Yomi Ghoul in attack mode!"

Another purple portal appeared and from this one appeared a short, stout demon, wearing a crimson hood with a nightmarish, skull like face. The strangest thing about it was the creature's weapon of choice: A knife and a fork, that was bigger than even him. (0/0)

Ao could only stare at the strange looking demon for a moment, wondering why that nagging feeling in the back of his head was telling him, he KNEW where this creature was from. Aoki interrupted his thought process when he held up a total of three cards from his hand and slammed them down on the disk. "I think I'll end my turn by placing these three cards facedown."

_There's no way that fiend is safe to attack, or those traps won't hurt me in some way if I attack that monster. _Ao thought to himself and drew a card. _So the question is, do I risk attacking this turn? I may risk it._

"From my hand, I summon Skystarray!" once more, a strange aquatic creature appeared. This one was a manta ray, but bright green and several layers of razor sharp teeth in its mouth as it flew beside Flyfang. (600/300)

_At least this way, I can force him to use up a trap he may be saving for that fiend._ He thought. "Skystarray has the special ability to bypass your monsters and attack you directly, so I'll use that right now! Skystarray, direct attack!"

Ao anticipated one of the traps flipping up when the large sea creature flew like a bird over the fiend, but nothing of the sort happened. Aoki grunted in annoyance when the Sea-Serpent crashed into his side, almost causing his D-Wheel to spin out right there.

Ao stared at him for a moment before he decided to go for broke. "Skyfang, attack Yomi Ghoul!"

The flying shark gnashed its teeth and flew just as swiftly over to the crimson clad demon. It opened its mouth wide, every single tooth gleaming. The Ghoul gave out a quick shriek of terror before his upper half was removed from his bottom. The remains exploded, and Aoki grunted.

"I may have taken more damage than I would have liked…" The Shadow grunted, before he flashed him a grin that was on par with the malice of a true demon, "But you just sealed your fate by giving me part one of my ultimate combination! By destroying Yomi Ghoul, you enacted his curse! Now you lose 800 Points of Damage!"

A burning fireball of dark energy struck Ao in the chest, causing him to grunt and swerve a little in pain. He then noticed one of Aoki's other trap cards had flipped face up.

"Which leads me to activate my trap card, Spike Laden Bomb! Don't let the name scare you, nothing special here, all it is, is a trap version of Dark Room of Nightmare, and blasts you another 300 points of damage each time I hit you with effect damage!"

A burning sensation washed over Ao, not unlike the water of his favorite pond. He hissed in pain and nodded.

**(Ao: 6900/SPC: 2) - - - - - - - (Aoki: 5800/SPC: 2)**

…

"Then, I draw!" Aurum announced as she pulled off the top card from her deck. "Now, I'll start off with the spell card – Miracle Rupture! So, by discarding a rock monster from my deck to the graveyard, I can draw another card – So, I'll discard Giant Soldier of Stone and draw!"

Aurum quickly slipped the card into her duel disk before her duel disk shuffled the cards inside of it. When the machine was done shuffling, Aurum quickly reached into her duel disk's graveyard slot and pulled out a single card from it. "But that Giant Soldier isn't going to stay there! I remove it in order to summon Gigantes!"

Aurum slapped the card onto her duel disk, which allowed a large horned, and muscular ogre dressed in ripped clothing to slam into the ground. The ogre clutched onto a large tree trunk that was being crushed in the ogre's hand (1900/1300).

"Next I'll summon Weathering Soldier in attack mode as well!" Aurum announced as she slapped the card onto her duel disk.

The ground in front of Aurum began to rupture, and several rocks began to lift up into the air, forming into a tall rocky warrior that seemed to have fossils thrown into the mix (2000/1200). "Normally paper beats rock but…"

At that moment, Aurum stuck out her tongue and shook her head, "Ugh, I've been spending too much time with Ao, his bad puns are starting to rub off on me. Weathering Soldier just smash the paper bird!"

The larger of the two rock monsters slammed its fossil clawed fist into the paper crane, smashing it into the ground. "Gigantes!"

And with a powerful leap, the ogre slammed the log in its hand into the paper crane, which crushed it into floor. The shikigami cackled as it shrugged its paper shoulders at Aurum's move, and Aurum herself shook her head as she lifted up a pair of cards from her hand. "I'll set two cards face down and end my turn. Show me what ya got, you living Post-It Note. However, my Weathering Soldier's effect now kicks in, draining my monster of six hundred attack points."

A large amount of earth fell from the Weathering Soldier's body (2000/1300 – 600/0).

That little comment seemed to make the shikigami's brow narrow down at Aurum before the paper Shadowkind drew from the top of its deck. Then with a loud hiss, the shikigami gestured towards its continuous spell card, the Origami Cranes, which glowed brightly as another Paper Crane Token (0/0) floated from the spell card.

"Right, your spell gives you another token each turn," Aurum stated as she eyed the spell card. "So, what's your big plan now? I doubt that you've got another Seed Cannon in your hand."

The Shikigami snickered as it spun around another card in its hand, which was another spell card that depicted a tanned gardener, with a green thumb pointed towards the sky. As the spell card materialized on the field, Aurum leaned forward slightly, "Green Thumb, allows its owner to take one level four or lower… Crap, you're going for Lonefire aren't you?"

With a loud cackle, Shikigami nodded before a card popped from its deck, however, instead it lifted up two more of the cards in its hand and slipped them into its duel disk. Then with one of the three remaining cards in its hand, the Shikigami cackled loudly as both of the face down cards shattered into millions of paper tags. The Shikigami slapped the card onto its duel disk, which called all of the paper tags began to merge into a large figure.

The figure slowly began to form into a large tiger that was made out of the paper tags that roared loudly (0/2500).

…

Naga gave the imp a blank stare at this. "Please tell me my hearing is still out of whack and I did not just hear you use the words 'bunny' 'burn' and 'blitz' all in the same sentence."

"Trust me, when you see what I'm about to unleash you won't be cracking jokes for long. I summon Rescue Rabbit in attack mode!" Inpu proclaimed as he played his next card.

A small rabbit with gray and white fur hopped onto the field, wearing a safety helmet and ski goggles on its head with a GPS tracker hanging from a harness around its neck. It twitched its nose a few times not seeming to notice the vicious extraterrestrial killing machines towering over it (300/100).

"By removing it from play, Rescue Rabbit allows me to special summon two level four or lower normal monsters from my deck provided they have the same name," Inpu explained as the little rabbit burrowed into the ground. "But before we get to them, I chain Rescue Rabbit's banishment to my facedown card: Zero Force!"

Suddenly both of Naga's monsters cried out as an invisible force seemed to slam them to the ground where they lay on their hands and knees their armor warped and cracking under the strain (1900/800-0/800) (1800/1000-0/1000).

"What the…what did you just do?" Naga demanded.

"Its simple really, Zero Force activates when a monster I control is removed from play, at which point it reduces the attack scores of every face up monster on either side of the field to zero. Now that its effect has resolved I summon two copies of Bunnila to the field thanks to Rescue Rabbit's special ability." Inpu said slapping two more cards onto his tray.

Out of the hole Rescue Rabbit had dug popped two tiny snow white balls of fur. While they were clearly rabbits of _some _kind these creatures looked more like sentient Beanie Babies then any natural product of evolution. Their bodies were pudgy and round, they had no feet to speak of, and their ears were long enough to double as antennae (150/2150X2).

Naga stared bug eyed at the almost nauseatingly cute monsters. "…Okay," He said slowly. "I'm seeing the bunnies, now when do we get to the 'burn' and 'blitz' part of this?" At this point he was wondering if the last four Shadowchasers this guy had dueled had _laughed _themselves to death.

"Right now!" Inpu crowed reaching for the monster he had set on his first turn and flipping it into attack position. "By flip summoning my facedown Des Rabbit, you take one thousand points of damage for every non Token normal monster I control!"

A pale brown furred rabbit holding a carrot between its pause appeared next to the two Bunnilas on Inpu's side of the field (1000/1900). After looking around its beady dark eyes locked onto Naga and narrowed before it flung the carrot at the Shadowchaser's face like a missile.

Naga's hand shot out and snatched the incoming projectile out of mid-air purely on reflex. After he blinked a few times allowing his brain to catch up to the rest of his body he gave a goofy grin.

"_HAH! _Sorry pal, but you're dealing with someone who was trained by having daggers thrown at him while blindfolded! It's going to take more then a little produce to catch me off…eh?" Naga stopped noticing how both Bunnila were staring at the carrot in his hand with enormous shimmering eyes, trickles of drool running down the corner of their mouths.

In a panic he tried to drop the carrot, only to realize it was stuck to his hand thanks to a large glob of sticky white goop that had been smeared onto the carrot. Looking at Des Rabbit Naga's pupils shrank seeing the tiny bottle of super glue it was holding in its paws.

"Oh this is going to suck…" He managed to say before both Bunnilas latched onto him using their small but surprisingly sharp teeth gleefully munching away at the carrot-and everything attached to it.

"_YEEEOOOWWWW! GET 'EM OFF! GET 'EM OFF! GET 'EM OFF FOR THE LOVE OF BUDDHA, ZEUS, GOD, ONE OF YOU GUYS, JUST GET THEM OFF ME!" _He screamed bashing them against a wall in an attempt to shake them off.

Unfortunately the Bunnilas' bodies seemed to have the consistency of marshmallows; they struck the wall, flattened slightly with a squeak not unlike a dog toy, and popped back into place as though nothing had happened, all the while gnawing at the poor Shadowchaser's hand and fingers.

By the time they finally let go, the dozens upon dozens of teeth and claw marks left Naga's hand resembling a piece of bird pecked bread. The Shadowchaser stuck his hand in his mouth in order to stifle the whimpers of pain wanting to come out. Physical trauma was one thing, but this was just _humiliating!_

…

"So you run a burn deck, I see," Ao grunted, shaking his head free of the pain. "I suppose I'm not surprised, as burn decks are a quick and efficient way to deal with opponents…"

"I don't just run a Burn deck, Shadowchaser, I run the BEST burn deck. You'll see why in a moment. You gonna do anything else?"

"I activate both of my monsters effects!" he gestured to his fish and his Sea-Serpent. "Since Flyfang inflicted damage, and Skystarray attacked you directly, they're both removed from play until my next Standby Phase." Both of the fish flickered out of existence before their very eyes.

"But if you think even for a second you're getting a free hit on my life points, think again! I activate Fish Rain!" His trap card flipped up. "Since a Fish, Sea-Serpent or Aqua Type monster was removed from play this turn, I can Special Summon a Level three or lower monster of the same type from my hand, and I happen to have Big Jaws right here."

Rather than appearing in a portal like the others, the ground beside him swelled and burst. The shark with the metal teeth appeared with the sound of a knife drawer falling over. (1800/300)

"I think that's it for my turn." He said.

For the first time in the entire duel, a turn was seen up ahead. It was quite the surprise, but both managed to make it but just barely. Thankfully, the new hallway stretched out as far as he could see.

_This is insane! _Ao thought in his mind. _How can a temple be this large inside! We were in that hallway for five minutes alone! Just what is this place?_

"Then let's get this going! Draw!" Aoki shouted and watched as his Speed Counters blipped up one more. "Ah good, I'm up to three, which is just what I need to activate Speed Spell – Null Summoner!" The spell card appeared before him, depicting Ojama Yellow flying at high speed down the Speed World road. "Since I have three Speed Counter, this lets me summon a monster from my deck with 0 Attack points, so let's bring another of the Yomi Family out, namely Yomi Boat Watchman!"

The next monster was not at all like the previous Yomi monster. Instead of being fat and holding large utensils, this one was thin and wrapped in a black robe so only his gleaming red eyes were seen, standing in the middle of a boat with a large oar strapped to its back. (0/0)

"But you don't have to worry about my monster staying around, because Yomi Ghouls effect activates. All monsters I control are automatically destroyed!" At that, Yomi Boat Watchman exploded into pixels.

"What?" Ao asked in confusion. "What's the point of having a monster in your graveyard that destroys any monster you control?"

"Well, he was part two of my combo," Aoki admitted. "Like his brother, Boat Watchman deals you 800 points of damage when he's destroyed, and with Spike Laden Bomb, that's another 300!"

Once more, the fireball struck Ao again, causing him to cry out and wince as his slowed down to keep from falling over right then and there. He glared. "So I take it this strategy involves destroying themselves to deal you damage?"

"It took you that long to catch on?" Aoki taunted as his trap activated. "Trap, activate! Yomi's Guidance! Since I control two Yomi monsters in my graveyard, I can summon another one from my deck, free of charge. So how about Yomi Frontier Guard?"

The new monster was more like Yomi Ghoul than Boat Watchman was. It had the familiar thickness he had, and his robes were green than red. His weapon of choice, however, was a massive battle axe. (0/0)

The second he appeared, he exploded into pixels. "And third verse, same as the first."

Ao cried out as another burst of energy struck him in the chest, causing him to slow even further.

"And now that my ultimate combo is in play, I'm afraid you have no hope in winning this duel, my dear fish boy." He cackled. "I think I'l even end my turn! I've done enough this turn!"

**(Ao: 4700/SPC: 4) - - - - - - - (Aoki: 5800/SPC: 4)**

…

"What in the world is that?" Aurum questioned with a small bead of sweat that rolled down the side of her head.

That's when the monster's card materialized to the right of the large beast, revealing that the card was called Paper Tiger (yeah, what a subtle name for a card). However, the card's effect was more intriguing – It can only be special summoned if its owner destroyed two of their own spell or trap cards. And as long as the monster was out on the field, then each time a plant monster was summoned, the opposing duelist would take six hundred points of damage.

"Oh crap," Aurum muttered to herself as the Shikigami cackled even louder as a glow from its duel disk's graveyard slot caught the Shadowchaser's attention. "Now what?"

The Shikigami lifted up the card that caused the glow, and it was revealed to show an odd trap card that made Aurum blink a few times, "Dummy Marker? Well, it certainly would help out in any deck I guess."

After the Shikigami drew once more from its deck, the paper Shadowkind slapped the third to last card in its hand onto its duel disk. A small flame erupted in front of the paper Shadowkind, which at first made it jump back slightly but then the shikigami cackled again at the sight of a fiery plant bulb in front of with sparks floating about it (500/1400).

Just as Aurum was about to say something, the Paper Tiger roared loudly and whipped its tail through the air. Several pieces of paper flew from the tiger's tail and headed straight towards Aurum, however, unlike with the Seed Cannon, Aurum took a deep breath and immediately threw her hand forward, which blocked a good number of the pieces of paper from reaching her body. Still a couple of slips passed her hand and slit her shoulders making the overcoat on her gain a few more ragged cuts. "Paper cuts, I haven't had to deal with those since school…" (ALP: 4600)

The Shikigami merely tilted its head slightly before it shook its head and threw its arm towards its remaining Paper Crane Token which erupted into a powerful flame. Aurum lifted her duel disk up, prepared for both the Paper Tiger's effect and whatever monster that the paper Shadowkind was about to summon.

The flames died down to reveal a mesh of gnarled roots that tangled around each other until they formed into what looked to be a small face in the mesh of roots (0/0). And with a loud screech, the Shikigami threw its hand forward, the Paper Tiger whipped its tail once again, which flung several sharp strips of paper at Aurum. This time around though, Aurum spun around delivered a powerful roundhouse kick that struck the papers and made them float harmlessly down to the ground, "Not gunna happen again!" (ALP: 4000)

The Shikigami only shrugged its shoulders as it snapped its paper fingers towards the group of gnarled roots that was a monster – Which Aurum identified as Copy Plant when she finally got a better look at it – and it began to shift its shape. Eventually, the Copy Plant seemed to transform into a dead ringer for the Lonefire Blossom that was on the Shikigami's field.

Then with a loud rhythmic screech, the Shikigami lifted up its arms into the air, allowing the Copy Plant to transform into three rings that wrapped around the Lonefire Blossom. The Lonefire Blossom stood erect and grew into a large tree that absorbed the three rings of light into it. After a moment, several cracks appeared in the tree's trunk and then shattered to unleash a beautiful young woman who was part plant. She had several green leafs and red bulbs that spread across her body. And while the woman was indeed beautiful, that fact was minor in comparison with the plant-like mouths that were where her hands should've been that screeched loudly at the woman's appearance (2200/1800).

'_Queen of Thorns,'_ Aurum thought to herself as she stepped to the side, dodging the sharp papers that flew past her. '_Well, that's just perfect… I think its safe to say that the this thing runs plant burn, and thanks to its continuous spell, it'll get a free shot off every turn.' _(ALP: 3400)

The Shikigami cackled loudly as it slipped the last two cards from its hand into its duel disk. One of the cards appeared face down, while the other card materialized on the field for a second, revealing a spell card before it exploded into millions of vines that wrapped around both of the duelists' bodies. The spell card reappeared next to the shikigami, which allowed Aurum to read the card in her mind, '_Garden of Thorns, a continuous spell card, need a plant type monster on the field to use it, blah, blah, blah…_

_Whenever a player special summons a non-plant-type monster from their deck or extra deck, that player takes a thousand points of damage…_

'_Well, that just made things a lot more difficult.'_

…

Inpu in the meanwhile was laughing so hard he was clutching his sides in pain. "BWAHAHAHAHAA! I-I never get tired of the look you people get right before you get bitten, it's priceless!" He cackled. "Y-you know it's just as well I'm going to kill you, I can't imagine you ever being willing to show your face in public after this."

"Buddy, its going to take a lot more then being chewed on by a couple of Cadbury Egg mascot rejects to make me any more antisocial then I already am," Naga growled the glare he tried to give Inpu being somewhat lessened by the tears of pain lingering at the corners of his eyes.

"O-oh really now?" Inpu chuckled starting to calm down a bit. "Sounds like I'm doing you a favor then. I play Double Summon, allowing me to sacrifice both copies of Bunnila." The tiny rabbits vanished as a shadow fell across the field. "Prepare to face the strongest monster in my deck, the mighty _Rabbi-Dragon!_"

With an earth rattling crash the biggest, most bizarre looking dragon Naga had ever seen hopped down onto the field. It was covered in a mixture of bony scale plates and thick white fur that covered half of its bat like wings leaving only a row of spikes running down its neck and back bare.

The dragon's head whipped around on its long slender neck scanning the room before one of its large floppy ears twitched hearing Naga take a step back. It brought its head down to face level with the Shadowchaser so he could get a good look at its blazing hellfire red eyes and long gnarled tusks steam wafting out with a growl (2950/2900).

"And now for the piece de resistance, I play Reign of Fire! Now for the low cost of only one thousand life points, a level seven or higher Dragon I control becomes able to attack all of your monsters, and deal one hundred points of damage times the level of each one destroyed. In other words, with both your monsters at zero attack points your about to lose over six thousand life points!"

Naga started to say something before the mutant dragon suddenly unleashed an enormous fireball that consumed everything on the Shadowchaser's side of the field in an explosion that shook the entire temple to its core.

…

"Your ultimate combo leaves a lot to be desired! Draw!" he drew his card and smiled at the monster he drew. "Because it leaves you wide open! Now that it's my standby phase, Flyfang and Skystarray are returned to my field!" Two portals of light burst to life, and both the shark and the manta ray flew out, beside Ao on either side. "But Skystarray isn't going to stay! I remove him from play to Special Summon Tsunagi!"

Skystarray faded away into nothing, and was quickly replaced by the immense, subway sized eel, slithering behind his master, barely able to fit in the otherwise spacious hallway. (2800/2600)

"In case you haven't noticed, I have three powerful monsters on the field, and you have none! I'll finish this right here! Tsunagi, attack him directly!"

As it had no room to maneuver to use it's tail as a whip, as it was apt to, it instead opened its mouth. The sound of crashing waves could be heard as a powerful pillar of water shot from the eels mouth, directly for Aoki.

The shadow, on the other hand, gave another wicked smirk and gestured. "Heh, you really are dense!" Suddenly, before Ao's eyes, Frontier Guard appeared with a loud, rasping cackle. The second he appeared, however, he exploded, and Tsunagi's attack died before it could strike Aoki.

"What?" Ao shouted in surprise. "How?"

"There's a reason this is my ultimate combo, brat!" Aoki shouted as they took another sharp turn down another seemingly endless hallway. "Here's how it works! Yomi Ghoul destroys any monster on my side of the field. When I have no monsters on my side of the field, when you declare an attack, Yomi Boat Watchman allows me to summon a Yomi monster from my graveyard, and when Yomi Frontier Guard is destroyed during the battle phase, the battle phase ends right then and there!"

It took a moment for the situation to sink into Ao's head. "That means I can't declare a direct attack without…hurting myself more and more!"

"Give the boy a prize!" Aoki laughed as another immense fireball struck the half-mer-duelist with a cry of pain, this time losing control of his D-Wheel and slammed into the stone wall of the tunnel. He grunted as he spun out for a moment and finally straightened himself up.

**(Ao: 3600/SPC: 5) - - - - - - - (Aoki: 5800/SPC: 5)**

…

The shikigami waved it's a papery arm a few times at Aurum, which she assumed that it was done with its turn. So with a nod, Aurum looked at the cards she held, and a small smirk appeared on her face. '_Alright, nothing's ever too easy, but I won't let that stop me!'_

Aurum lifted up one of the cards in her hand and held it up, "First off, I don't trust that face down card of yours! So, I'll activate my spell card Boulder Crush! Now, by discarding one Rock monster from my deck, I can destroy one face down card on the field!

"So, by ditching Ruby Statue Phoenix, I can smash that face down card!"

A loud whistling sound echoed through the air until a large, red colored boulder crashed into the set card on the Shikigami's field, making the paper Shadowkind jump back in surprise. The boulder disappeared and the face down card lifted up, to reveal that the card itself was Wall of Ivy, but it immediately shattered after revealing itself.

"I had a feeling that was the case," Aurum stated as she threw her hand over one of her face down cards. "And with that in mind, I'll play my trap card – Refinement! Now, by destroying my Weathering Soldier, I can special summon another Rock monster from my graveyard with a level that's one higher or lower than the monster I destroyed."

The Weathering Soldier immediately shattered into millions of shards that stabbed into the ground. However, the shards seemed to open up the ground and allowed a small ruby statue of a phoenix to appear where the Weathering Soldier stood (1200/800). "I'll with the latter option and summon out Ruby Statue Phoenix in its place.

"And here's something hardcore about this monster, it's a tuner as well! And I'm tuning my level four Gigantes with my level three Ruby Statue Phoenix!"

The ruby statue shattered into three rings of red light that wrapped around the large ogre's body, which transformed the Gigantes into four stars that crashed into the ground as Aurum pumped her arm up into the air. "_**Titans of the past awaken from your Earthly prisons, being created from the kingdom of gold erupt from the depths! Arise Ancient Titan – El Dorado!**_"

A giant golden fist erupted from the ground in front of Aurum, which shook the ground greatly. Slowly, the creature that Aurum summoned began to pull itself from the ground, revealing that it was a massive man-shaped golem that was made up of complete gold that was styled to have several bird-like designs etched into its body, a hawk-like head and a large pair of eagle-shaped wings on its back. When the titan was on its feet, it stood up a good fifteen feet up straight and slammed its fists together, sending several sparks flying from its fists (2400/2400).

…

Inpu started to snicker before it escalated to full blown megalomaniacal laughter as he watched the flames spread. "Spent already Shadowchaser? That's what you get for underestimating an elite assassin like me! Like my rabbits I might be small but I pack one hell of a-huh?"

Out of the blaze an enormous pair of crustacean legs swung out and dug into the temple floor, followed by another, and another before a hideous creature resembling a multi-legged slime covered brain dragged itself forward tentacles of transparent slime lashing through the air (2600/2000).

Cosmic Horror Gangiel wrapped its tentacles around Rabbi-Dragon's throat and began to slowly drag it across the field. Everywhere the tentacles made contact caused the dragon's skin to turn grey and brittle until it resembled a larger four legged version of the Alien Warrior that still remained on the field.

From behind the trio of monsters Naga appeared beating out a few small fires on his clothing looking bruised and more then a little singed, but mostly unharmed. "Sorry, but I try to limit myself to taking one cheap shot per duel." He said working a crick out of his neck.

Inpu looked like he was about to blow a gasket, sputtering as he frantically tapped a few buttons on his duel disk. His eyes almost popped out as he saw the cards Naga had activated in response to his attack. "D-Damage Equals Reptile and Alien Brain?"

"That's right; I took the damage from Rabbi-Dragon's first attack and used Damage Equals Reptile to summon Cosmic Horror Gangiel from my deck. Then I chained Alien Shocktrooper's destruction to Alien Brain, hijacking your Rabbi-Dragon and changing its type from Dragon to Reptile."

"And since Reign of Fire's effect prevents any other monster I control from attacking, I cant even use my Des Rabbit to destroy your Alien Warrior," Inpu swore under his breath setting the last card in his hand facedown behind Des Rabbit. "One card facedown, that's the only other thing I can do this turn." He spat.

INPU: 7000 LP NAGA: 2650 LP

"Funny how much easier it is to trash talk an opponent when you have an overwhelming field advantage isn't it?" Naga said drawing a third card. "Since my Alien Warrior still has only zero attack points I'll sacrifice him to summon someone with a little more muscle, my Alien Mother!"

The weakened warrior vanished and was replaced by a much larger and far more fearsome looking alien. This one had four arms and a frilled neck that flared out into dozens of pale white razor sharp spines. If there was any indication beyond its name to suggest a gender, it likely required getting far closer to the beast then was good for one's health (2300/1500).

"Time to clean house: Alien Mother, destroy Des Rabbit, Cosmic Horror Gangiel and Rabbi-Dragon, attack him directly!" Naga commanded throwing a hand forward. Des Rabbit squealed as it was grabbed in the Mother's talons and swallowed whole while the other two monsters slashed at Inpu with their claws with enough force to send him bouncing across the floor of the temple like a pebble skipping on water and cursing the whole way.

It took Inpu a couple of seconds to get back to his feet, one tiny hand holding his head as he bared his teeth at Naga. "Alright, so maybe I underestimated you a little," He admitted pressing a button on his duel disk. "But thanks to the damage you just dealt me, my Shock Draw translates it into six new cards from my deck, more then enough to launch a counter attack and finish you off but good."

"By all means take your best shot," Naga said setting a card facedown leaving him with one remaining in his hand. "But considering the one eighty this duel just took in my favor, you'll forgive me if I feel a bit more confident about surviving this mess."

INPU: 350 LP NAGA: 2650 LP

Inpu quickly drew a seventh card. "Playtime's over snake, here's where I get nasty. I play play Tri-Wight Zone, which allows me to special summon three level two or lower normal monsters in my graveyard to the field. And before you ask I discarded another Bunnila when I played Dark World Dealings." Inpu continued as all three of the cartoon rabbits appeared on the field (150/2150X3).

"Then I play Smashing Ground to destroy the face up monster with the highest defense score currently on the field, which happens to be my Rabbi-Dragon." The ground beneath the dragon cracked and started to shift before a chasm opened up sending the beast plummeting to its doom.

"You wanted my best shot snake? Well here you go! I play the spell card BunnEvolution. By offering all face up 'Rabbit' or 'Bunnila' monsters, I can special summon a Rabbi-Dragon from my hand, deck or graveyard for each monster I sacrifice!"

A bolt of energy struck each Bunnila causing them to rapidly grow and mutate until three identical copies of the deadly mutant dragon towered over Inpu's side of the field, their roars mingling with one another in a deafening chorus (2950/2900X3).

'_Why is it out of every piece of anti-supernatural equipment ever developed by the Shadowchasers R&D department, the ONE thing nobody ever thought to look into making is a Holy Hand Grenade?' _Naga thought looking even paler then usual. He couldn't help but wonder if this is what it had felt like to duel Seto Kaiba.

"Rabbi-Dragons one and two destroy his Cosmic Horror Gangiel and Alien Mother!" Inpu commanded throwing his little hand forward. Instead of breathing fire, the mutant dragons crouched down before kicking off the ground and hurtling through the air at incredible speed…right past both of Naga's monsters?

But then as the Shadowchaser watched, both dragons whirled in mid-air so they landed feet first against the wall behind him and kicked off again in opposite directions continuing to ricochet around the room with increasing speed until all Naga could see of them were blurs of white and red.

When the attacks finally came neither Gangiel nor Alien Mother saw it coming until it was too late to react. The first Rabbi-Dragon came down from above and bounced off the ground before planting both feet in Alien Mother's chin with enough force to snap its chitin covered vertebrae like a tree branch, while the second one slammed Gangiel into the wall so hard its entire body burst like a spoiled watermelon.

Naga flinched at the violent death's of his monsters. "I use Damage Equals Reptile's effect! I took over six hundred points of damage from Rabbi-Dragon's attack on my Alien Mother, so I special summon Alien Ammonite in defense mode!" His trap glowed as the tiny mollusk like alien appeared curling up in a ball (500/500).

Inpu rolled his eyes before snapping his fingers drawing his third Rabbi-Dragon's attention and simply pointing in the direction of Alien Ammonite. This time the dragon simply stalked over and swatted the monster with a flick of its tail sending it splattering against the wall behind Naga.

"I see you plan on dragging this out until the very end," Inpu said setting a monster and three cards facedown on his field next to his dragons. "It really doesn't matter anyway; you'll be as dead on my next turn as you would have been on this one. So make your heroic last stand and be done with it snake."

INPU: 350 LP NAGA: 1650 LP

…

"Ergh…fine!" Ao shouted as he gave one last look to his hand. "I end my turn!"

_There's only one card in my deck that can save my and win me this duel. I just need to hope it's somewhere close!_

"Draw!" Aoki shouted and drew his card. It was then both of the D-Wheels entered an impossibly large domed room, surprisingly lit up by torches that for all intents and purposes should have gone out dozens of years ago, yet burned as if they'd been lit mere seconds ago. The walls held strange, very faded albeit, sketching of things Ao wasn't sure he wanted to know what. People screaming as an immense shadow barreled over them, flesh flailed and blood flying. He looked up at the walls for another moment, wondering, for what exact reason, this temple was made for.

"Quite the art work, eh?" He chuckled. "It's funny how history'll be repeating itself soon!" Before Ao could let the very ominous words sink in, he played a new card. "I summon Yomi Soldier in attack mode!"

Another Yomi appeared, this one admittedly just as hideous as the others. Its robes were bright yellow, its mask was a horrible visage of a grinning skull and its hands held a very large, serrated blade. (0/0). Like the others, it didn't last long before it exploded.

"Oh would you relax?" Aoki said to Ao, who winced and prepared himself. "Yomi Soldier is one of the few members of this family who doesn't deal burn damage when he's destroyed. That's not to say he isn't useful though! When he's destroyed, I can Special Summon another Yomi monster form my graveyard in attack position, so how about Frontier Guard again!"

The green robed fiend appeared, and just as quickly as he appeared did he explode into pixels. Ao once again screamed as the burning fireball exploded against his form, but learning from last time, he held tight onto the handle bars of his D-Wheel as an anchor. He panted as his form smoked from the damage.

"Did I say I was done dealing you damage? I'm just getting started! Trap, go! Yomi's Revenge deals you damage equal to the number of Yomi monsters in my graveyard times three hundred!"

Ao looked up suddenly as the ghastly images of the four Yomi's appeared on either side of him, their low chuckling sending chills up his spine. They suddenly struck at the same time, using each of their weapons to stab the Shadowchaser. Ao once again grit his teeth and tried to bare the surprisingly real pain, managing to shake them off.

**(Ao: 1000/SPC: 6) - - - - - - - (Aoki: 5800/SPC: 6)**

"Heh, fraid that's all I can do," Aoki said with a smirk. He looked at his hand. "You're lucky I ain't got no Speed Spell in my hand to abuse Speed World 2's effect! Heh, but who knows, you may not get so lucky next turn…"

…

Then at that moment, the titan knelt to the ground with its arms crossed over its chest. "And I'll summon El Dorado in defense mode!"

The Shikigami then snickered loudly as it threw its arm towards Aurum with the thorny vines around the two duelists acting madly. Aurum lifted her arms up at the last second as the thorny vines whipped at her, and she blocked the attack that was flung at her. "N-Nice one!" (ALP: 2400)

As the vines fell limp, Aurum snapped her arms to the side, "But, it's thanks to that effect damage, El Dorado's effect kicks in! Whenever I take effect damage, it gains attack and defense points equal to the amount that I take, so that's a thousand points each!"

El Dorado's body began to glow brighter (2400/2400 + 1000/1000). "And I'm not done! I activate Ruby Statue Phoenix's effect! When used for a rock Synchro summon, I can equip it to my Titan!"

Two fiery red wings appeared on both of the arm armor of El Dorado's arms. "And I'll keep outfitting him, this time with the spell card Mage Power! And since I've got three cards in my spell and trap zone, he gains an impressive fifteen hundred attack points!"

A powerful golden aura erupted over El Dorado's body, almost as if the titan was set ablaze (3400/3400 + 1500/1500). The Shikigami tilted its head slightly at the sight of the enormous power house in front of it, however Aurum just nodded before she lifted her hand up to her chin.

Then with one swift arm movement, the muscular Shadowchaser popped her neck loudly and leered at the shikigami, "I know what you're thinking, why am I empowering this defense? Well, I'm not… I'm aiming to attack this turn! I play my last face down card – Zero Gravity! Now, all face up monsters on the field flip their modes!"

The shikigami gasped loudly as the Queen of Thorns crouched down while the Paper Tiger and El Dorado stood up straight, the larger of the two monsters cracking its golden knuckles loudly (4900/4900 – 500/500). "And since your big bad tiger doesn't have a single attack point to its name, you're about to get pummeled!"

El Dorado pulled its fist back, and then immediately threw its fist towards the Paper Tiger, its attack was so powerful that the golden aura was pulled back by the sheer force of the punch. The tiger roared loudly before it was smashed into the ground, sending a powerful shockwave that sent the Shikigami skidding backwards with a loud screech. (SLP: 3600)

When El Dorado pulled back its fist, the Shikigami shrieked loudly in rage, opening up its paper mouth to illustrate its anger. However, Aurum just kept her gaze fixed on the paper Shadowkind, "… I'm not done. My Ruby Statue's effect now kicks in. While equipped to a monster, that monster can't destroy other monsters in battle… So your paper Tiger's still out on the field."

The Shikigami blinked its paper eyelids a few times before the Paper Tiger sprung back up, albeit its body was completely crumpled from the punch. "But, in return for that, my monster can attack twice! So, El Dorado! Fist of the Golden City!"

The Shikigami seemed to scream as the golden titan immediately threw another powerful punch towards its Paper Tiger, this time completely crushing the monster into the ground and forced a powerful burst of air that sent the Shikigami flying up into the air with its cards and several scraps of paper falling down towards the ground. (SLP: 0)

As the monsters and plants began to disappear, Aurum slowly stepped forward and lifted her hands up into the air. A moment later, the Shikigami gently floated into her open hands, which allowed the Shadowchaser to tightly grasp the paper Shadowkind. The Shikigami struggled to gain its freedom, but Aurum's grip was too strong.

With a narrowed gaze, Aurum slowly spoke, "… Disappear, you walking waste of nature!"

And with a powerful pull, Aurum ripped the Shikigami in two as the papery Shadowkind screeched in pain. The scraps of the Shikigami slowly floated down as Aurum released her grip; however her eyes widened when she looked at her left hand, noticing a small gash of red blood in her hand, "Damn it, he gave me a paper cut! Stings like hell!"

…

Naga would have been lying if he had said he wasn't scared at this point. He had no monsters on the field, and no other cards save one facedown card and Damage Equals Reptile and the one remaining in his hand. He murmured a brief prayer under his breath as he drew a card.

When he saw what he had just drawn his eyes widened slightly in surprise. _'This is…!'_

Inpu saw the expression on Naga's face and sneered. "What's with that look snake? Don't tell me you still think you can win this duel, maybe by playing a certain level two eight hundred attack point Alien? Well forget it; I'll crush your last hope of victory with this facedown card." He pressed a button as a trap card materialized on his side of the field.

"Though its hardly evidence enough to perform any concrete investigation, I might as well humor you by mentioning every member of our organization runs at least one copy of Cloak and Dagger as a means of identification similar to how you lot carry copies of Jalal's card. Now the moment you try to flip, normal or even special summon Alien Infiltrator my trap will banish it instantly."

Naga barely even seemed to hear this, he stood there looking at the spell card he had just drawn his eyes distant. In truth this card didn't really fit his deck, but it had been a farewell gift from his teacher and just seeing it again brought to the forefront of his memories what he had been told that day.

**Miracles do not come to those who seek them out in blind faith Naga. They come to those who resolve to see their struggles through to the bitter end regardless of the outcome. **

"Okay Inpu, one way or another, this is the last turn, so I'm letting it all ride on this one card: Question!" Naga shoutedslapping the spell card onto his duel disk. There was a flurry of confetti as a game show host rose up his eyes hidden beneath an odd looking top hat with a question mark on top standing in front of a quiz panel.

"What in the…what is _that _doing in an Alien deck?" Inpu asked flabbergasted.

"Call it sentimental value, call it eccentric deck construction, or just call it the last resort of a desperate Shadow-touched. The bottom line is if I screw this up I'm a dead man come next turn anyway so what could it hurt to take a risk?"

"A valid point," Inpu conceded frowning. "But don't you realize I already know the name of the first monster to hit your graveyard? Once I call it, your spell card will remove that monster from play and you'll be in no less dire a situation."

Then to the imp's surprise Naga gave a sly smile. "But is it really that simple I wonder? You threw a big monkey wrench into that theory right at the beginning of the duel after all."

Inpu blinked before his eyes widened in shock. "The card you discarded when I played Dark World Dealings. Don't tell me that it was…!"

"That's right short-stuff, you were too busy planning ahead for your One Turn Kill to bother seeing what I discarded, so without being able to check the graveyard you have no way of knowing what monster is at the bottom of my graveyard."

The imp snarled realizing he had only himself to blame for this.

"So yeah, you have about five seconds before I just go ahead and summon my guy." Naga said as he looked at his non-existent watch. "Unless of course you wanna take a crack at it?"

Inpu scowled and waved him off. "Fine!" He barked. "Summon your monster! I can assure you it won't help in any regard!"

"You'd be surprised! Come on out, Alien Overlord!"

In a dark flash of light appeared the armored, multi-armed alien with a loud howl, snarling and baring his teeth at the small imp, its bile dripping from its pulled back lips. (2200/1600)

"Then, I'll use his effect to put an A-Counter on all of your genetic misfits!" Gesturing, the arms of the alien began to glow, and suddenly a hideous purple slug appeared on the necks of all three of the Rabbi-Dragons. The Dragons as a result let out a squeaking roar.

"Now, I can see it in your eyes you're about to go on a long tangent of how this won't work, well let me stop you right there because I equip my monster with Alien Camouflage." He said. Slipping the spell card into his Duel Disk. Suddenly, the Alien Overlord shimmered away from existence, as did two of the A-Counters on the field. Inpu frowned in confusion.

"Is this is some attempt to delay your inevitable death any longer…" Inpu began.

"Oh, it's not." He said. "You may wanna look behind you now."

Inpu looked over his shoulder as instructed, his eyes widening in surprise as the aim shimmered and Alien Overlord appeared, snarling even louder.

"See, once per turn I'm allowed to remove two A-Counters from any monster on the field and in exchange, the equipped monster allows itself to attack you directly." Naga crossed his arms. "I'd brace yourself, his attack is really messy."

Inpu never got a chance to brace himself as the spray of acidic bile poured out of the reptiles open mouth. Inpu screamed as he was covered in the slime, his life points plummeting to 0.

INPU: 0 NAGA: 1650

"Well, I'll admit, you have me worried there a few times…" Naga said with a chuckle as his Duel Disk disappeared. "But I think in the end, it was a fun duel! Now then, under the Treaty, you're under arrest." He was halfway through grabbing his jewel when Inpu began to cackle.

"If you think I'm willingly going with you, Shadowchaser, you've thought wrong." He pulled out another scroll from his sleeve and held it out.

Naga took a step back. "Hey, hey, hey! I won! You can't just go back and try and kill me!"

"Heh, stupid reptile, I'm not killing you…" He held up the scroll and said, "I'm killing myself."

"What?"

Before he could do anything else, Inpu began to chant loudly, a red aura surrounding his body. "I will die before I go willingly to the Shadowchasers!" He exclaimed and suddenly, shouted one final word. He burst into flames.

Naga watched in horror as Inpu was more than a burning form, wrathed in flames. What was the scariest part, however, was the fact he never stopped laughing. Even as his clothes burned, his skin melted and he slowly died, the insane cackle and the malicious grin never left his face. Finally, all that was left of the Imp was a pile of ashes, the cackle still echoing off into the distance. Naga shuddered and looked over his shoulder to see Aurum approaching.

"Looks like you had an easier time than I did." Aurum said as he immediately locked eyes with the cuts in her shoulders.

"Sure, physically. Mentally, it's kinda scarring watching someone burn to death and not stop giggling about it."

"Well, it's over." Aurum said. "Now we just have to wait for Ao."

"I hope he's okay…"

…

_He's right._ Ao grunted as he grabbed his card and drew it. _If he even draws a single Speed Spell or Yomi monster next turn, I'm done for! If there was ever a time for me to get a good draw, this is it!_

He looked to the new card and gave a nod. "I activate Speed Spell – Angel Baton! This card allows me to draw two cards at the cost of discarding one of them!" He looked to his deck, took a deep breath and snatched the top two cards off, turning them around and looking at them.

Sadly, neither of them was the card he was looking for. He gave an annoyed sigh as he discarded his copy of Killer Frilled Shark to the graveyard. "Well, desperate times call for desperate situations! I activate Speed World 2's effect! By reducing my Speed Counters by 7, I can draw one card!"

His Speed Counters plummeted to zero, falling very quickly behind Aoki and drew his card. THIS time it was the card he needed. He sighed in relief and pushed it into his disk, saying, "I set one card facedown and end my turn!"

"Heh, getting desperate? I love it when they get desperate. The fear in their eyes as they know they're going to die is delicious!" He suddenly turned around at one of the slopped walls, heading right back to where the two had come out. "We ain't long for the duel, buddy, so how about we start heading back, huh?"

"Sounds good to me!" he shouted as he too followed suite.

Before the room disappeared behind them, Ao looked over his shoulder at the strange markings on the wall. There was a foreboding feeling about them, something that seemed more ominous than intended.

"Now then, let's see if Lady Luck is shining down on me, huh?" Aoki chuckled as he drew a card. Ao held his breath and he winced, expecting the worst. However, Aoki frowned and sighed, slipping a monster into his field. "I summon Sangan in attack mode."

The three eyed ball of fur appeared, chattering about before he exploded into pixels. A card stuck out of Aoki's deck, and he held it out to Ao, a second Yomi Soldier. He chuckled. "At least next turn, I've got a guaranteed win! I end my turn!"

"Heh, it's a shame you won't GET a second turn!" Ao drew his card but completely ignored it in turn for pointing at Aoki. "Tsunagi, direct attack!"

"Say what?" Aoki shouted in surprise as the massive eel opened its giant maw again. "If you wanted to lose that easily, ya could have just told me! Boat Watchman, I activate your effect!"

Frontier Guard suddenly began to fade into existence, when all of a sudden an even LOUDER cackle echoed through the halls. A massive figured appeared right in front of Aoki, a figure the Kroccodile Shadow recognized as the monster Doom Shaman. The fiend pointed its staff at Aoki's graveyard, causing a cartoonishly large red X to appear over the graveyard. The Frontier Guard faded away from existence. "What?"

He turned his attention to Ao's newly activated trap card. Ao began to explain with a grin on his face, "I activated Seal of the Hallowed Ground! This card can only be activated when you get cocky enough to use a card that activates in the graveyard, this card negates the monsters effect and all monsters in the graveyard for the rest of the turn!"

"What? But…how? How could you have a trap that counters my strategy perfectly! It's not real!" Aoki argued.

"Seal has been a part of my deck for quite a while! You'd be surprised how many duels I've gone against where people use Graveyard oriented cards like Plaguespreader Zombie, Spore, Necro Gardna, and even most of the Dark Worlds! This is a contingency if anything, not at all out of the ordinary! And now that your graveyard is locked away, Tsunagi, Big Jaws, Flyfang, DIRECT ATTACK!"

Aoki barely had time to scream before he was over taken by the powerful torrent of water, and the two sharks digging their razor sharp teeth into him. He screamed as his D-Wheel suddenly screeched to a halt, smoke gushing from his machine. He grunted as Ao stopped just behind him, his monsters vanishing.

**(Ao: 1000/SPC: 2) - - - - - - - (Aoki: 0/SPC: 9)**

"Well, that was a close one, but I'm afraid I'm the winner," Ao said as he panted as well. "Now, you're under arrest for your crimes against the Shadowchasers!" he went to grab his jewel, when suddenly Aoki's D-Wheel roared to life.

"I ain't going down like this, Shadowchaser." He grunted as he revved his engines. "If you want me…you'll have to CATCH ME!" With that, he dashed back down the hallway.

Ao was a bit surprised by this admittedly cliché turn of events, before he gave chase with his own D-Wheel.

…

After a few seconds of silence, Aurum and Naga had begun to fear the worst. That is, until they heard the loud roar of an approaching engine.

"Hey, I think he's coming back!" Naga said as he leaped to his feet. Aurum followed and both turned their attention to the opening both Aoki and Ao vanished into. Seconds later, Aoki blasted through, going full speed right for the entrance.

"He's trying to get away!" Naga exclaimed.

"Like hell he is!" And Aurum kicked herself into gear. She rushed as quickly as she could she made a leap for Aoki. The Kroccodile shadow never saw her coming, especially going as fast as he was, as Aurum wrapped her arms around his body and tackled him clear off the D-Wheel, slamming him into the wall. The D-Wheel skid out of control and slammed against the wall with a huge explosion, bursting into flames.

Ao entered the room seconds later, panting heavily as he quickly jumped off his D-Wheel and immediately looked to his companions. "Are you guys okay?"

"A little banged up, but we're fine." Naga said.

"Hey, Ao, next time you're going after someone, try not to let them escape, eh?" Aurum teased as she held the struggling Aoki in her grasp, pinning him against the wall.

"Get…the hell…off…me!" He grunted, struggling harder and harder.

"No can do buddy, you're under arrest! And unlike your green little friend, you're not taking the easy way out!" Aurum grunted, struggling as well. She was strong, but he was strong too.

Finally, after another second of struggling, Aoki DID manage to break out. He panted and took several steps away from the three of them, who looked about ready to fight again.

"Three against one," Ao said, "Doesn't look good for you."

"Yeah…doesn't, does it?" He asked, a slow smirk crossing his lips. "Heh…well, ya know, I kinda wanted to go in a blaze of glory…' An annoyed shrug, he reached into his robes and pulled out a simple pistol. Before anyone else could stop him, he pointed it to his head. "I'll see you bastards on the other side!"

"NO!"

BAM!

He pulled the trigger, brain matter spraying out one side of his head. The light left his eyes and he fell on his side, not moving. The others winced and shuddered.

"I'm not gonna lie…this…hasn't been the best night for our psyche." Naga said with a shudder.

"Well, at least we won…I guess. Managed to avenge a few Shadowchasers on the side, and…" Ao looked off to the side. "…Oh, who broke the egg thing?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Naga asked with a chuckle as they approached it.

"It wasn't my fault!" Aurum defended. "He was too fast; I could barely get a clear hit on him!"

"Still! We don't know what this egg can do! For all we know it's some horrible creature living inside of it and all it needed was one good punch!"

"Well, we can take it out and have Jalal examine it!"

"No, I don't wanna have to take this thing out of here if we don't need to. Maybe if we just leave it as it is, it'll be fine." He said, slowly taking a step back. Worried that even a single breath would knock it over.

Naga then spoke up. "Hey…guys, where's Aoki?"

Ao and Aurum looked off to the side, paling. What Naga said is true, Aoki's body was gone. Not only that, but the sword that was on the opposite side of the temple was gone as well. Their eyes wide, they began to look around.

"What the hell happened?" Aurum asked. "We saw him blow his own brains out! That's not exactly something you get up and walk away from!"

Naga would have argued, when suddenly there was a distinct shaking under their feet. Looking down in surprise to see, indeed, the temple quaking. Their answer came seconds later.

"The sun!" Aurum exclaimed, pointing at the the entrance. Outside, the sun began to rise. "It's rising!"

"Something tells me the temple isn't going to last much longer." Naga said. "Come on; let's get out of here before we go with it!"

Naga made a run for the door while Ao hopped onto the D-Wheel and revved the engines. "Aurum! Come on, let's go, we don't have a lot of time left!"

"I'm coming!" She shouted over the growing rumbling sound. She looked back to the entrance…then back to the egg. It was wobbling dangerously on its pedestal. She bit her lip and looked back and forth. Ao and Naga were all ready gone. She was the only one left inside.

"Where's Aurum?" Naga shouted to Ao as he skid right beside him on his D-Wheel. "I thought she was right behind you!"

"I thought she was too!" Ao cursed and spun his D-Wheel around. "If I hurry, I can grab her before-"

"Wait! Look!"

Both looked up to the top of the staircase to see Aurum rush out from the fading building, carrying something under her shoulder. The temple was vanishing more and more with every step she took. She made it, thankfully, jumping off the last five steps and landing on her feet. The sun completely rose, and the Blue Moon Temple vanished from sight.

The silence could be cut with a knife as Aurum panted heavily, her eyes wide and her face pale. She was almost dead, and it finally hit her that little stunt almost cost her her life. Ao released a low sigh of relief while Naga quickly pulled her into a hug.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Naga scolded and stepped away. "Why weren't you behind him?"

"I…had to…" She panted. "…Well…see…"

Ao did see something under her arm, and he frowned. "Aurum…" He said, like an adult about to scold his child. "What do you have here?"

She looked down sheepishly, before she pulled out what was under her arm: The stone egg from the temple. Both the boys groaned.

"Aurum! I told you not to bring it out!"

"It was about to fall! I figured at the least I could send it to Jalal for repairs, or maybe lock it down in someplace with even tighter security. If this were to break, I can't imagine it being very good for…well, earth."

"Fine…you make a good point. We'll call Jalal and see if we can't get at least SOME form of closure. Then maybe we can see what was in the sword Aoki somehow stole."

"Come on, let's get going." Naga said as he walked over to his D-Wheel and hopped on. "Can you drive with that thing?"

"Shouldn't be too hard." Aurum said as she approached her own D-Wheel. "I just have to adjust it, so-" Without warning, she cried out and tripped on a rock that had stuck out in the middle of the road. She stumbled forward, the egg flying from her hands.

Everything seemed to slow down as the egg fell to the earth, landing on its thicker end. Nothing happened at first, but then, a second later, a large glowing crack flew up the side of it. A blinding light shot forth, causing the Shadowchasers to cry out in pain as their vision was filled with a bright light.

Thankfully, it didn't last. Peeking through their fingers, they looked toward the egg. The egg was in halves, cracked open.

There was something new though.

Standing in between the egg halves was a figure. Standing taller than either of the three, with long red hair that seemed to stick up than drift down. A golden headband wrapped around his forehead. His face was handsome, humanoid with a few scars here and there. His arms were covered in a thin red fur like substance, his hands and feet thicker and stronger, almost like an ape. His clothing was red and yellow, wrapped around him like a robe.

The man groaned a little bit, his eyes drifting shut and falling on his stomach.

"…Oh boy."

…

Aoki gasped and panted as he rushed through the woods, cackling a little bit even as the sun began to drift down again. He was thankful for his kinds special ability, to survive one fatal blow per day. Without it, he likely wouldn't have made it thus far in life. All he had to do was commit 'suicide', and when the stupid humans were looking elsewhere, he would just swoop in and steal the sword!

He wanted to wait until the end of the day before he went back to his boss. Better safe than sorry after all. So as he walked through the woods, feeling his strength returning, he approached the immense structure his boss resided in, walking up to the doors and stepping in.

"Hey, boss!" Chided the Kroccodile Shadow, grinning as he walked down the long hallway. "I got you your stupid sword, let me tell ya it wasn't easy!"

The man sitting on the thrown watched and snapped his fan shut. "You impress me, Aoki. I almost expected you to fail."

"Yeah, well, with all that payment on the line you can bet I'm coming back." He said as he unsheathed the sword and held it out for the man. Reaching out with a delicate hand, he grabbed the handle with a firm grip and held it up.

In his hand, it began to glow dark purple, almost black. The man smirked and swung the sword, just to test how it felt. It felt…natural. Perfect in his grip.

"You have my many thanks, Aoki." He said as he rose to his feet. "Perhaps you deserve your pay now for such an impressive job."

He approached Aoki, the shadow grinning a little bit and held out his hands. The man's smirk disappeared, and instead he drove his sword into his chest.

"AH!" Aoki howled, looking down at him. "What….the fuck…?"

"You have the honor of being the first in a great era, my friend." He said. "Don't fight it, it will be over soon."

Aoki grinned a little bit. Heh, stupid fool didn't know he'd just survive this! When he did, he'd just come back and murder this stupid bastard! That'd show him for double-

He frowned, an intense burning sensation spreading over his body. He grit his teeth and groaned, falling to his knees. Finally, something happened. He felt completely empty. With a gasp of pain and a look of horror, his eyes widened and he froze in position, thinking one final time, _This doesn't feel normal…_

Falling off the blade, the man held it up for him to see. The sword was glowing a little darker and pulsating. The man chuckled.

"Now the games begin."

…

**Green Thumb / Normal Spell / Effect:** Add one level four or lower Plant-Type monster from your deck to your hand.

**Image: **A hand with an emerald green thumb, pointing up to the sky

**Garden of Thorns / Continuous Spell / Effect:** This card can only be activated if you have a face up Plant-Type monster on the field. If you do not have a Plant-Type monster on the field, destroy this card. Whenever a player special summons a non-Plant-type monster from their deck or extra deck, inflict 1000 points of damage to that card's owner.

**Image: **Queen of Thorns sitting in a huge garden consisting mainly of thorns, some monsters seen in the tangles

**Origami Cranes / Continuous Spell / Effect:** When this card is activated, destroy all face up Plant-Type monsters on your side of the field. For each monster that was destroyed with this effect, special summon one 'Paper Crane Token' (WIND/LV1/ATK:0/DEF:0/Plant) to your side of the field. During your stand by phase, special summon one 'Paper Crane Token'. 'Paper Crane Tokens' cannot be used for Synchro summon or tribute summon. As long as this card is face up on the field, you cannot conduct your battle phase.

**Image: **A group of glowing origami paper cranes floating from the sky.

**Paper Tiger / Wind / LV. 7 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 2500 / Plant/Effect:** This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be special summoned by destroying two spell or trap cards on your side of the field. Each time a Plant-Type monster is summoned, inflict 600 points of damage to your opponent's life points.

**Description:** A snarling, crouched over origami paper tiger.

**Ancient Titan – El Dorado / Earth / LV. 7 / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 2400 / Rock/Synchro/Effect:** [1 Rock-Type Tuner monster + 1 or more non-tuner monsters] This card is unaffected by other monster effects. Whenever you take effect damage, increase this card's ATK and DEF by the same amount of damage that you took.

**Description:** a massive man-shaped golem that was made up of complete gold that was styled to have several bird-like designs etched into its body, a hawk-like head and a large pair of eagle-shaped wings on its back

**Refinement / Trap / Effect:** When this card is activated, select and destroy one face up Rock-Type on the field. Then, you may special summon one Rock-Type monster from your graveyard with one level higher or lower than the Rock-Type monster that was destroyed with this card's effect. **  
>Image:<strong> A large rock with jewels embedded in it with several miners trying to get the jewels out.

**Ruby Statue Phoenix / Fire / LV. 3 / ATK: 1200 / DEF: 800 / Rock/Tuner:** When this card is used for a Rock-type Synchro monster and sent to the graveyard, you may equip this card to the Synchro monster that used this card as a tuner monster. A monster equipped with this card cannot destroy a monster as a result of battle. A monster equipped with this card can attack twice during the battle phase.

**Description: **A phoenix statue with it's wings spread, made entirely out of Ruby.

**Yomi Soldier / Dark / LV. 1 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Fiend/ Effect: **When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, Special Summon one "Yomi" monster, except Yomi Soldier, to your side of the field in Attack mode.

**Description:** An overweight fiend, holding a huge serrated sword.

_**Note: The above cards were all created by Lux-Nero.**_

**Yomi Ghoul**  
><strong>Type<strong>: Fiend/Dark/Effect  
><strong>AttackDefense**: 0/0  
><strong>LV:<strong> 1  
><strong>Effect<strong>: When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, inflict 800 Damage to your opponent. If you controlled this card when it was destroyed, destroy all monsters you control while this card is in the graveyard.

**Yomi Boat Watchman  
>Type<strong>: Fiend/Dark/Effect  
><strong>AttackDefense**: 0/0  
><strong>LV<strong>:1  
><strong>Effect<strong>: When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, inflict 800 Damage to your opponent. While this card is in your graveyard, if your opponent declares a direct attack, Special Summon 1 "Yomi" monster from your graveyard to the field.

**Yomi Frontier Guard  
>Type<strong>: Fiend/Dark/Effect  
><strong>AttackDefense**: 0/0  
><strong>LV<strong>: 1  
><strong>Effect<strong>: When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, inflict 800 Damage to your opponent. When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard during the battle phase, end the battle phase immediately.

_Note: The above cards were used by the Familiar in Yugioh 5D's._

**Speed Spell – Null Summoner  
><strong>Type: Spell  
>Image: Ojama Yellow flying down the Speed World 2 Track<br>Effect: Activate only when you have 3 or more Speed Counters on "Speed World". Special Summon 1 Monster from your deck with 0 ATK. Destroy it during the End Phase of this turn.

**Reign of Fire**  
><strong>Type<strong>: Spell  
><strong>Image<strong>: Red Eyes Black Dragon soaring over a field, lightning it all on fire.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: Pay 1,000 Life Points, and Select one LV 7 or Higher DRAGON-Type monster you control. The selected monster may attack all monsters you opponent controls once. Deal damage to your opponent equal to the Level of the destroyed monsters X 100. Only the selected monster may attack.

**Alien Camouflage  
>Type<strong>: Spell/Equip  
><strong>Image<strong>: Alien Mother's Silhouette behind the boy from Heart of the underdog.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: Equip only to an "Alien" monster. Once per turn, during your main phase, remove 2 A-Counters from anywhere on the field. During this turn, the equipped monster can attack your opponent directly.

**Yomi's Revenge  
>Type<strong>: Trap  
><strong>Image<strong>: The three Yomi's flying toward the player, a huge explosion behind them.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: When a "Yomi" monster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, inflict 300 Damage for each "Yomi" monster in your graveyard.

**Spike Laden Trap  
>Type<strong>: Trap/Continuous  
><strong>Image<strong>: Explosive Beast Vulcannon rushing a Blue Eyes, who's covered in spiky orbs.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: When you deal effect damage to your opponent, except from "Spike Laden Trap" and "Room of Dark Nightmare", inflict 300 Damage to your opponent.

**BunnEvolution  
>Type<strong>: Spell  
><strong>Image<strong>: Three Bunnilas glowing yellow, the silhouettes' of Rabbidragon behind them.  
><strong>Effect<strong>: Offer all face up "Bunnila" or "Rabbit" monsters on your side of the field. Special Summon 1 "Rabbidragons" from your deck, hand or graveyard for each monster sacrificed by this effect.

_Note: BunnEvolution was created by Metal-Overlord 2.0._

…

**Who is this strange new visitor?**

**What does the egg have to do with anything?**

**And what was so special about the sword?**

**Next time!**

"**Answers to the Unknown, the Mysterious Visitor!"**

**Wait, he has to stay in MY room?**


	5. Answers to the Unknown!

Disclaimer: We do not own Yugioh or the Shadowchasers. Those are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi and Cybercommander, respectively.

Authors Note: Quite a few apologies. As life is indeed a bitch, the update has been quite off. However, after this and the next chapter, I should be back to update more frequently! In the mean time, well, try to deal with the next two chapters.

…

"And then the big, stone egg cracked open and there he was. We couldn't leave him out there, so we took him home."

"How interesting…"

Right now, Aurum and Ao stood in front of the holographic projection of Jalal, wanting to get some explaining done about their encounter in the Blue Moon Temple, from the beginning to the end. Naga was in the back, trying to get their new house mate to relax and not break stuff.

"No, wait, put that down, it's a fragile rel-"

SMASH!

"…ic…oh…"

"As you can see, we're having SOME issues." Ao said, deadpan.

Jalal was deep in thought, staring down at the ground, a hand to his chin and his eyes narrowed. "Hm." He said. "Did he say his name?"

"Yeah, he said his name was….Wukong, I think he said, right?"

"Wukong?" Jalal perked up a bit. "Is that what he said? You're certain?"

"Yeah." Aurum nodded. "Why?"

"A strange monkey man who hatched from a stone egg, named Wukong? How very interesting…If I didn't know better, I'd say this is something out of the old Japanese tale, Journey to the West."

"Well, the similarities are quite striking." Ao mumbled.

"So what's that mean?" Aurum asked, looking up at her boss. "We're in the prescence of a Monkey Trickster god?"

"I will admit, it seems ludicrous but in this day, age and world, I honestly would not be surprised if such an event was possible of happening," Jalal spoke again, "regardless of that, one thing remains certain: There is something about this newcomer. Even from here, I feel a great power eminating from him. As such, it is your duty to keep a close eye on him."

"You're kidding!" Naga exclaimed from the back. "We can't keep an eye on this guy! Have you seen what he's been doing to our home?! He's broken stuff I didn't even know we own!"

"I'm sorry, Naga, but until we understand what we're dealing with, we need to keep an eye on him. And despite what he claims he is or not, he is indeed a Shadow, thus it is your duty to keep him safe and to make sure nothing happens to him."

The Snake blooded teen would have argued, but he found the words dying in his throat. He sighed and looked down at the ground. "Yes sir…"

"Good," Jalal said with a nod, "now while you have him, be sure to try and…civilize him. I don't think he understands you're not suppose to hang from that support beam as if it were a jungle gym."

"He's doing what?" Naga turned and cried out, "NO! Stop! Get down from there or you'll hurt yourself!"

"This is gonna be painful." Aurum said, dead pan. All Ao could do was close his eyes.

…

"Yes, yes, come one, come all, indeed a winner everytime!"

A small crowd had gathered around a rather shady looking table, where a cloaked man sat at one end.

"A simple lottery, if you will, something small and simplistic that could bring great and untold riches! Perhaps the future holds greater things for you than you could expect…"

"And how exactly does this work?" A voice spoke up from the back, several of them turning to the cloaked man in question, looking for an answer.

The cloaked man gave a little chuckle and a grin under his cloak. Almost immediately, everyone else in the group felt the air lower by about ten degrees, but they paid it no mind. Rather, he reached into his cloak and flipped out a small handful of scrolls.

"All of these will have a special spot on them. Blue means you lost, Red means you won a consolation prize, but a gold means you've won the jackpot. Who amongst you will be the lucky gold?"

"That's it?" The same voice questioned. "We just pick and win?"

"indeed you do, my friend, indeed you do…" With a quick hand swipe, the scrolls laid out for them all, facedown. "All I ask is you ensure the secrecy of your number. There's no…_fun_, in the situation if it's blatantly obvious."

They all cast looks to the other. It was such an odd idea. The man hadn't even asked for money. So one of them was going to get a prize, no matter what? Sure, the guy seemed shady, but even if he tried anything, they could all take him. It was at least ten to one.

So, each person reached out and grabbed a scroll, keeping it facedown. Once everyone had collected a scroll, the man grinned again. "So, let's see who our lucky winners are? Please, let's see your cards!"

They all flipped their cards over, their eyes opening in surprise and happiness. The golden number! They all had the golden number!

…Wait…how did all of them have the golden number?

Indeed, the excitement died down to confusion and turned their attention to the man, who sat as still as when they found him. Flipping over their cards to him, they proclaimed, "Just what the hell is this all about?"

"Congratulations everyone!" The man exclaimed happily, the chipperness in his voice never dying. "It seems it's one of those rare moments everyone wins! And now, to show you all…your reward…"

Suddenly, his cloak flipped up, to reveal a rather large mirror that sat in his lap. There was a flash of light, silencing the groups cries of surprise in an instant. Once the flash had dissipated, the entire group was gone, leaving only the cloaked man, the table, and the scrolls fluttering down to the ground. Reaching down, he quickly snatched them up into his cloak.

With that, his smirk widened. His eyes looked back and forth to see if anyone had indeed seen that. Apparently not. That was the benefit of back alley areas like this.

"Come one, come all, indeed, every time there's a winner!"

…

"Oh…my head…' Groaned one of the group that had vanished. "It's throbbing…where, where are we?"

"I don't know…" Another one mumbled. "It's too dark to see anything…"

"Welcome, gentlemen."

Their eyes turned up to see a dark figure standing in front of them. They couldn't make out any features on him, so he just looked like a silhouette to them. Still, whoever this was, his mere prescence was enough to intimidate the group.

"I trust you are all scared, confused. I ask you not be." His voice was deep, very suave with a strange accent none of them could pinpoint. "I brought you here for greater purpose. For your existence shall mean the beginning of great things."

They continued to be too terrified to even speak, so the man took another step forward.

"All I ask, is you do not fight the inevitable…"

He grabbed something by his side, pulling out a sword from its sheath. Even in the darkness the man basked in, the sword was easily viewable in the blackness.

"And accept your destiny."

Their screams echoed out in the castle, which were quickly silenced moments later.

…

**Hey, wait, stop breaking things!**

**This is gonna take forever to teach him all this stuff!**

**Well, I guess we better get started on it, huh?**

**Can't be that difficult.**

**Next time!**

'**The New Comers Manners!"**

**Wait, who is THIS guy?**


End file.
